The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization Text, Cases, and Materials

As discussed in Chapter 1, discrimination in matters relating to trade breeds resentment and poisons the economic and political relations between countries.1 Moreover, discrimination makes scant economic sense as, generally speaking, it distorts the market in favour of goods and services that are more expensive and/or of lower quality. Non-discrimination is, therefore, a key concept in WTO law and policy. The importance of eliminating discrimination is highlighted in the Preamble to the WTO Agreement, where the ‘elimination of discriminatory treatment in international trade relations’ is identified as one of the two main means by which the objectives of the WTO may be attained.2