WTO

Now that the UN conference on climate change has ended another international deliberation is preparing to commence. The cheering crowds in Montreal will be replaced hissing protesters as the WTO meets in Hong Kong.

My initial reaction to the protesters is always one of confusion. The WTO is the international organization governing and promoting free trade. How can anyone oppose trade? But I’m not one to call somebody a stupid hippie and be done with it. At the very least you have to wonder what their objection is. Why do so many people around the world passionately oppose globalization? That they are uninformed is not a sufficient answer.

Part of the answer is environmental concerns. The WTO is a potential threat to environmental regulations passed by developed countries such as the United States. Developing countries have submitted complaints that energy efficiency standards and laws mandating timber be cut from sustainably managed forests are unfair barriers to free trade. If the WTO were to favorably rule on one of these objections (I very much doubt this would happen) a country could be subject to economic sanctions for having such a law.

That is how to get people who celebrate the Kyoto Protocol to panic when it comes to the Doha Round.