The World Trade Organization Works For You

Good-paying American jobs, higher living standards, and the continued growth of the U.S. economy depend on our ability to sell the goods and services we produce to consumers everywhere. The World Trade Organization (WTO), founded in 1995, helps the United States achieve this goal.

The United States was a leading force in establishing the WTO, which is an international institution in which we negotiate agreements to reduce barriers to trade with 134 other members, allowing American businesses, farmers and working people to find new opportunities, create new jobs, and raise family living standards. The WTO is also a forum for countries to enforce trade agreements and continue negotiations toward expanding world trade opportunities.

Our country entered agreements in the WTO to ensure that American workers, the most productive in the world, can compete on a level playing field. Since the United States is among the world�s most open markets, the Agreements in the WTO help open foreign markets on more reciprocal terms. Under WTO rules, foreign nations assure us greater access to their markets, and are constrained from giving their workers and firms unfair advantages through subsidies and protectionist domestic policies. At the same time, WTO rules recognize and respect governments� right to maintain high standards for the environment, labor, health, and safety.

The Agreements are thus designed to help American families by opening foreign markets to our products, lowering the prices of business inputs and of everyday goods we purchase in grocery and department stores, and establishing fair trade rules that safeguard American companies and workers. Finally, membership in the WTO helps to advance democratic values abroad, such as freer markets, more open societies, transparency and the rule of law in commercial transactions, and peaceful settlement of disputes.

TRADE BENEFITS AMERICA'S WORKERS & FAMILIES

The trade gains that the United States has won through the WTO Agreements and other trade policies have been a major contributing factor to our thriving economy. Studies estimate that the effect of full implementation of the WTO Agreements will be to boost U.S. GDP by $125-250 billion per year (in 1998 dollars). We have a great stake in further expanding opportunities for U.S. companies and workers in manufacturing, agriculture, and services industries through the WTO.

• WTO rules lower trade barriers abroad and help us export more of our goods and services to other countries.
• On average, every billion dollars of goods and services exports results in thousands of jobs here at home.
• Between 1994 and 1998, 1.3 million new jobs supported by exports of goods and services have been created in the United States. Over the same period, total U.S. employment increased by 11.7 million jobs, and the unemployment rate declined from 6.1% to 4.5%.
• Jobs supported by goods exports pay 13-16% above the average wage.
• Today, industrial production in the United States is over 34% higher than it was in 1992. This compares to a 3.5% increase in Germany and a .5% decline in Japan. Between 1992 and 1998, manufacturing productivity was up nearly 4% per year, and manufacturing jobs increased by over half a million.
• Benefitting from new opportunities created by WTO rules, over one-third of U.S. agricultural production was exported in 1998, with a value of $52 billion.
• The services sector including retailing, transport, construction, insurance, finance, accounting, advertising, computer services, tourism, engineering, and environmental services accounts for over 60 percent of the U.S. economy, and 80 percent of our jobs.
• Helped by WTO services rules, the United States leads the world in trade in services with over $264 billion in exports annually. It is the fastest growing sector in our economy and provides the greatest number of new jobs.
• Raising living standards for all Americans
• The creation of higher-paying jobs supported by trade raises living standards for tens of thousands of American households.
• Trade barriers, by making goods and services more expensive, cost you money at the store. In 1990, prior to the WTO, private sector studies estimated that trade protection cost U.S. consumers approximately $70 billion per year. Our commitment to open markets has led to more affordable prices and a greater variety of the things that we purchase everyday, in the grocery shopping cart and for household goods, such as clothes, autos, toys, and consumer electronics. The standard of living improves for all Americans, but particularly for low-income families, since lower prices mean that your paycheck goes further in the marketplace.
• The WTO Agreements result in lower prices for business and consumer products. By the time that the Agreements are fully implemented in 2005, the annual effect will be equivalent to an increase of $1500- $3000 in purchasing power for the average American family of four.

United States Trade Representative
Executive Office of the President
Charlene Barshefsky, United States Trade Representative
Additional information can be found at: www.ustr.gov and www.wto.org.