Testimony Heard by the World

¶ … testimony heard by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Globalization is rapidly spreading as more countries rush to trade with each other, and gain a piece of the burgeoning global market. However, there are some disadvantages to globalization that must be addressed before trade swells out of control.

Globalization is a process whereby there is an increasing movement of capital and information within an international economy" (Rice and Michael 172).

While globalizations is rather a new term in the world trade market, in actuality, globalization has been going on in some form since nearly the beginning of time. As soon as man found ways to travel far from home, trade spread, and this was the beginning of globalization on a small scale. For example, when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, and began sending home items such as corn and tomatoes, small-scale trade with the natives was created, and global trade blossomed as more explorers found new and different products to take home to Europe. Just as today, many of these trade agreements benefited one side much more than the other, and that is one of the major arguments against globalization.

Modern historians place the beginnings of contemporary globalization at the creation of international trade agreements like the GATT treaties of the early 1990s. These treaties really opened up trade opportunities, creating more prospects for third-world, economically challenged countries to participate in the growing global economy. There are many advantages to global trade, including a larger market for trade items, new and different items available around the world, and a sharing of ideas and knowledge that can lead to further innovation and technological advancements. In addition, globalization can often help countries become more flexible. Experts write, "Indeed, many developing countries may benefit from greater flexibility, both in mentality and in the economy, than exists in many developed countries" (Hurrell and Woods 53). Thus, there are many advantages to globalization if it is managed effectively.

Of course, just as there are advantages to globalization, there are some distinct disadvantages. Often, globalization brings rapid changes to a country, including some drastic changes in the economy that some countries may not be able adsorb. These experts note, "In the same way as industrialization disembedded the economy from the community, the process of globalization disembodies the economy from the state. The economy becomes uncoupled from the national interest and increasingly subjected to international forces"

Rice and Michael 172). If a country loses too much control of its own economy, it can be damaging or even deadly, and the WTO needs to monitor these economies, to make sure they can survive and thrive during times of growing globalization. In addition, many global markets may take advantage of much lower wages in growing countries, thereby keeping the foreign workers at the poverty level, while leaving American workers without jobs here at home. Since the WTO is now the administrator of all multilateral trade agreements (Hurrell and Woods 29); it is their foremost responsibility to make sure no country takes advantage of another in these trade agreements.