World Assembly Trade Rights
Category: Free Trade | Strength: Strong
Regretting that World Assembly member nations often face harmful and unnecessary barriers in their trade with other member nations,
Emphasizing that these barriers ultimately serve as obstacles to the economic prosperity of all member nations,
Recognizing that these barriers therefore constitute a serious hazard to national populations,
The General Assembly,
- Grants the following rights to each member nation:
- the right, for a good or service originating from said nation, to receive the most favourable trade preference from any other member nation that said other nation grants to any other member nation for the same type of good or service,
- the right, for a good or service originating from said nation, to have applied the same taxes or regulations by any other member nation that said other nation applies to the same type of good or service of domestic origin, at least once the good or service has legally entered that nation,
- the right to create or maintain existing free trade areas or customs unions, so long as such areas or unions ultimately lower trade barriers between their members, not raise trade barriers for non-members;
- Clarifies that member nations may suspend their individual responsibilities under the above provision in the following cases:
- in the event of a significant disparity in labour, environmental or human rights standards, or to ensure reasonable quality control on goods and services, but only if such a suspension does not constitute discrimination between goods and services from different member nations with similar issues,
- to apply domestic subsidies, or to protect domestic industries against a discriminatory subsidy applied by another member nation, so long as any retaliation in the latter case is directly proportional to the original subsidy,
- to protect vital national security interests during serious international disputes or times of war, or
- to develop any other additional reasonable and appropriate trade regulations that are consistent with the goals of this resolution, as well as the interests of sustainable development and poverty reduction, either unilaterally through domestic legislation or collectively through World Assembly resolution.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly does this proposal do?
"World Assembly Trade Rights" creates a multilateral trading system for the World Assembly. It guarantees that every WA nation is entitled to the same treatment as any other WA nation in international trade. For instance, if a WA nation decided to give preferential treatment to another WA nation, they would be obliged to provide the same treatment to all other WA nations.
Does this mandate free trade between all WA nations?
No. Nations are still free to adopt tariffs, quotas, internal taxes and any other protectionist measures they deem necessary. The only restriction is that they may not discriminate between WA nations when applying these measures. In this way, the resolution encourages free trade while allowing nations with weaker economies to apply protectionist measures until they feel they are ready to re-join the world economy at large.
Aren't there legitimate reasons for discrimination between WA nations in international trade?
Yes, to some degree. This is why the resolution includes exceptions for disparities in labour, environmental or human rights standards, the maintenance of quality control, the application of domestic subsidies or protection from the same, and vital national security interests. We have also provided a blanket exception for any additional reasonable and appropriate trade regulations that are consistent with the goals of this resolution, as well as the interests aof sustainable development and poverty reduction. We feel that these exceptions do a good job of balancing the promotion of international trade with the particularities of national economies and societies that won't work with a one-size-fits-all free trade policy.
Recent Changes
The following is an overview of the major changes from last time:
- Significant formatting changes
- Duties and obligations have been rephrased as rights
- Domestic subsidies as well as disparities in labour, environmental and human rights standards are now valid reasons to suspend MFN and national treatment
- Nations may unilaterally create the "reasonable and appropriate trade regulations", rather than solely through WA resolution
- Dispute resolution has been split to a second resolution