Ending the protectionist scourge would benefit all 

[WASHINGTON, DC] The World Trade Organization is among the greatest success stories of the post-World War II era. By establishing rules based on principles such as non-discrimination among trading partners and equal treatment of foreign and domestic goods, the WTO enabled international trade to flourish, with far-reaching benefits for economic growth and poverty reduction. In this sense, the WTO is like oxygen: essential, but often taken for granted.

Before 1800, international trade accounted for a very small share of global economic activity, both because transport and communications costs were high and because most countries embraced mercantilist policies. But over the course of the 19th century, those costs fell, and trade barriers were lowered – first in the United Kingdom, and then across Europe – and an era of extraordinary economic growth began in today’s advanced economies.

This period was interrupted by two world wars and the Great Depression – events that, together with the protectionist policies they fuelled, caused trade growth and world output to decline sharply. But after WWII, policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic devised plans for a new international economic architecture, shaped significantly by the insights of John Maynard Keynes. The WTO’s predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), was established in 1947 to ensure that the rule of law prevailed in international trade.