Answer

are adopted by the bodies and groups that work to ensure that the interests of nations are taken into consideration in the organization of global economies. Economic bodies such as the World Trade Organization, the G-20, the G-7, the World Bank, The International Monetary Fund are usually responsible for determining the trade practices, the regulations and pricing policies for the most essential trade items and products. It is true that in a majority of these bodies, the developing nations are either not represented at all or where they are, the bigger economies usually hold more sway and influence. When these bodies make economic and trade decisions, they do so with the interests of their thriving economies and very little regard to those smaller economies. According to Sakbani (2015, unfair trade practices that include the valuation of currencies, the imposition of trade tariffs on goods from some nations and restrictions on trade are usually some of the consequences of having the international economic system dominated by those from the richer nations. In addition, these bodies encourage the provision of development and social progress loans to poorer nations. The two problems with these loans are that they are either given at very high interests or they have conditions attached on them that lead to the exploitation of the recipient nations. These practices combine to make international economic system unfair.

Question 2

Despite the apparent challenges that being in an elaborate international trade body like the World Trade Organization (WTO) brings to the United States, the benefits far outweigh the challenges and as such, the United States should not withdraw from the WTO. The WTO has created a more rule-based global trade system that has continued to dismantle the barriers to trade in goods and services. The dispute settlement system in particular has benefitted the American exporter and consumer by making countries more accountable for the practices they encourage. Anderson (2016) asserts that The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade has made sure that the tariffs imposed on American goods and services sharply decline from highs of 22% to about 5%. Consequently, the export of goods and services has always gone up. Getting out of WTO will mean that the US would be no longer bound by the provisions of enactments that encourage receipts of the use of intellectual property, leading to huge losses for the American manufacturers. As a leader in the Information Technology sector, countries would target the US with unfair deals and stealing of rights and there would be no body to arbitrate on the country’s behalf. This is not to mention the fact that the United States would have a much smaller potential market for the same technological gadgets and ideas that it continues to supply to many countries in the world. Withdrawing from this body would cast the United States as no longer leading in global trade, and this abdication of responsibility would have negative impacts on the trade prospects for thousands of American businesses and business people.