ABSTRACT
The WTO is a rule-based multilateral trading system. Its fundamental goals include ensuring sustainable development and environmental protection, raising standards of living, realizing full employment, and ensuring that developing countries secure a share in the growth of international trade that is commensurate with the needs of their economic development.2 The WTO specifically emphasizes that increasingly open and expanding global trade is of ultimate importance in achieving the above goals.3 After years of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and WTO, WTO member countries have come to embrace the following five principles: (1) non-discrimination, consisting of the most-favored-nation (MFN) rule and national treatment; (2) reciprocity; (3) binding and enforceable commitments; (4) transparency; and (5) safety valves, which are allowed to safeguard public interest and national security, ensure fair competition, prevent crises in the international balance, and protect infant industries.
