Facilitating Economic Development in the World Trading System : Proposal for Development Facilitation Tariff (DFT) and Development Facilitation Subsidy (DFS)

While the objectives of the World Trade Organization include promotion of economic development for developing countries, Current trade rules impede development interests significantly by depriving developing countries of the ability to adopt effective development policies. This problem is particularly severe in the areas of tariff binding and state subsidies. While the WTO provisions that require tariff binding and prohibit certain trade-related subsidies may be necessary for stabilizing world trade and inhibiting state interference with world trade, they also have significant implications for tariff and subsidy-based economic development policies. This article lays out the problems with current WTO rules in these areas and discusses ways in which regulatory reforms may strike an adequate balance between economic development and open trade