olicies seek to retain a regressive market structure around the world and prevent progressive ideas from being accepted (Pitcher 29).
In general, the criticisms that are leveled at the WTO focus on its processes and procedures rather than on the existence of the organization itself. Business leaders and politicians certainly want to work within the existing confines of the WTO, and thus the organization may well be able to withstand most criticism leveled at it.
3. Multinational and global companies clearly believe that free trade is essential to a successful global economy. This is illustrated in the effort that companies put into lobbying key trade organizations, including the World Trade Organization, as well as their national governments, to maintain relatively free trade.
Free trade practices ideally eliminate tariff and nontariff barriers to trade. Such barriers increase the cost of doing business in one country over another and, according to free trade advocates, provide greater advantage to domestic companies even when those companies are inefficient (Frank 27). When companies are considering in which countries to market or produce their goods, they are likely to take the trade environment into account. If the trade environment is good, they are likely to do business with those nations; if the trade environment is heavily regulated or places barriers in front of foreign companies, the companies are likely to look elsewhere. In this way, the free trade environment associated with a particular country has a direct effect on the type and amount of foreign direct investment that the nation is able to attract; this, in turn, can affect the national economy.
4. The IMF and World Bank are closely linked·nations must be members of the IMF before they can be members of the World Bank. In addition, where the WTO is based on a one-country-one representative approach, the IMF and World Bank allocate votes based on the am...