The WTO is the only international agency overseeing the rules of international trade. Its purpose is to help "trade flow smoothly, in a system based on rules, to settle trade disputes between governments, and to organise trade negotiations" (Carleton, n.d, 3)
In 1998, the WTO sparked quite a controversy among the environmental groups. The WTO ruled that the "United States was wrong to prohibit shrimp imports from countries that failed to protect seat turtles from entrapment in the nets of shrimp boats" (Hill, 2001, p187), even though sea turtles was considered to be endangered. …
