Does the World Trade Organization Serve America’s Interests in the Global Economy?

The U.S. House will soon vote on a resolution to withdraw the United States from the World Trade Organization. Supporters of the WTO maintain that U.S. membership encourages trade liberalization through multilateral negotiations, while establishing a rules-based system that protects the interests of American consumers and producers. Critics see the WTO as a threat to U.S. sovereignty and a lightning rod for more general discontents about free trade. Assessing the merits of U.S. membership in the WTO will be Douglas Irwin, one of the nation’s leading free-trade economists and author of the book Free Trade under Fire (2nd ed.), newly published by Princeton University Press; Grant Aldonas, a former top trade official in the Bush administration; and Rep. Ron Paul, a sponsor of the resolution to end U.S. membership.