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WTO WTF??

It's not supposed to work like that! It's just a tool to help us exploit other countries! Right?

Nope, it's a tool to help corporations exploit all countries by removing any barriers to trade (i.e. "laws").

What am i talking about?

The dispute stretches back to 2003, when Mr. Mendel first persuaded officials in Antigua and Barbuda, a tiny nation in the Caribbean with a population of around 70,000, to instigate a trade complaint against the United States, claiming its ban against Americans gambling over the Internet violated Antigua and Barbuda's rights as a member of the W.T.O.
...
More than a few people in Washington initially dismissed as absurd the idea that the trade organization could claim jurisdiction over something as basic as a country's own policies toward gambling. Various states and the federal government, after all, have been deeply engaged for decades in where and when to allow the operation of casinos, Indian gambling halls, racetracks, lotteries and the like.

But a W.T.O. panel ruled against the United States in 2004, and its appellate body upheld that decision one year later. In March, the organization upheld that ruling for a second time and declared Washington out of compliance with its rules.

That has placed the United States in a quandary, said John H. Jackson, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who specializes in international trade law.

Complying with the W.T.O. ruling, Professor Jackson said, would require Congress and the Bush administration either to reverse course and permit Americans to place bets online legally with offshore casinos or, equally unlikely, impose an across-the-board ban on all forms of Internet gambling - including the online purchase of lottery tickets, participation in Web-based pro sports fantasy leagues and off-track wagering on horse racing.

...
Washington responded to Antigua's complaint by claiming it was within its rights to seek to block online gambling on moral grounds, just as any Muslim country would be within its rights under international trade agreements to ban the import of alcoholic beverages. The W.T.O. rejected this argument as inconsistent with American policy.

This is a fairly silly case, but the same basic rules apply. And i love how 'More than a few people in Washington' didn't see it coming. The article doesn't mention who they are, but i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of our lawmakers allowed this organization to exist had no idea what they are doing. Next time, it's not our gambling restrictions (who cares if we get rid of those?), it's our environmental regulations or our labor laws (some examples).

I found this article through a post on Dean Baker's blog, where he highlights an unusual aspect of this challenge:

But not complying with the decision presents big problems of its own for Washington. That's because Mr. Mendel, who is claiming $3.4 billion in damages on behalf of Antigua, has asked the trade organization to grant a rare form of compensation if the American government refuses to accept the ruling: permission for Antiguans to violate intellectual property laws by allowing them to distribute copies of American music, movie and software products, among others.

Baker says:

This is usually the joke part of the W.T.O.. While the United States is a large enough consumer that selective tariffs or other import restrictions can impose a serious cost on most countries. However, the markets of most countries are so small that any restrictions on imports from the United States would barely even be noticed.

Antigua got around this problem by proposing to go the route of free trade. They want the right to distribute recorded movies, music, and software without any regard to U.S. copyrights. In other words, Antigua is proposing to eliminate copyright monopolies on these products. The existence of the Internet means that Antigua's decision to allow free trade in these products would immediately make them freely available all over the world.

According to the article, the threat of free trade has Hollywood and the software industry terrified. Unfortunately, because the reporter apparently has no background in economic nor spoke to any economists, the enormous irony of this situation was not noted in this article.

By fnord12 | August 29, 2007, 1:39 PM | Liberal Outrage