WTO critics are dismissed as selfish reactionaries. But it's the WTO's arrogant, antidemocratic mind set, along with its studied indifference to personal liberty, that has created virulent opposition. To political opponents, the WTO is an environmental menace that props up evil dictatorships, ignores human rights violations, and swaps good paying jobs in developed countries for subsistence wage work in the Third World. The opposition mostly ignores the benefits of a globalized economy to economic growth. GATT relied upon voluntary compliance, but WTO has enforcement powers to impose trade sanctions.
Closed tribunals hear challenges to trade-related national and local laws and regulations.
State attorneys general in the United States cannot participate in WTO challenges without the approval of the current administration. California, one of the world's 10 largest economies, has no say in the organization except through the federal government. Once a decision is final, losing countries must obey or face trade sanctions. Under GATT, the United States could retaliate against unfair trade practices by imposing unilateral sanctions under the 1974 Trade Act. Now the U.S. is committed to use the WTO for dispute resolution and to enforce WTO decisions in federal courts.