Читать книгу Global Issues - Kristen A. Hite - Страница 38

After the killing in World War II ended in 1945, a number of world leaders asked, “What should be done to prevent a person like Adolf Hitler coming to power again?” One of the answers given was to prevent an international economic collapse, such as the Great Depression, which created the conditions that led to the rise of Hitler. With that idea in mind, it was agreed that trade among nations should be encouraged so that, it was hoped, prosperity would spread and economies would become more interdependent. In 1947, under the sponsorship of the United Nations, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was signed by about 20 countries. These countries, later joined by about a hundred others, conducted a series of negotiations to promote free trade by reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade such as import quotas. The success of these efforts is clearly shown in Figure 2.8, which shows that from 1950 to the turn of the century world trade rose from about $500 billion to nearly $6 trillion, then more than doubled in just ten years. By 2017 exports had risen to US $17.73 trillion, while trade in services reached US $5.28 trillion.⁴⁷

Figure 2.8 World trade: merchandise exports, 1950–2015

Source: Based on data from World Trade Organization.

In 1995, GATT evolved into the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO was given the task of implementing the many agreements reached under the GATT negotiations and of setting up an arbitration mechanism to resolve trade disputes among its members.

The great expansion of international trade has created a highly interdependent world economy. That integration of the economies of many nations, combined with the proliferation of communication technologies that transcend national borders, and other factors, has been the main force in creating a new situation in the world called globalization. Globalization is mainly fueled by economic forces and sustained by new political, social, and technical integrative forces in the world today. Politically, international governmental organizations such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, along with regional organizations and agreements such as the European Union and the US‐Mexico‐Canada trade agreement, are playing an increasingly important role in global governance.

In 2000, part of the package of the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals included a need for rich countries to help poorer countries by reducing tariffs and quotas on the poor country’s exports. This push for “freer” trade was viewed as an opportunity to increase the extraction and production of materials, thereby increasing GDP.