This comment really betrays a great deal of ignorance about the Basel Convention, Biosafety, and the other treaties which are on our doorstep right now. Taylor correctly claims that the WTO has had positive influence in several areas, but you must look at the whole picture. Trade related intellectual property rights globalize US patent monopolies. Antidumping, green subsidies, and shrimp-turtle were all bad for free trade. As to the claim that WTO repealed Section 301, a recent WTO ruling in the EU banana case argues to the contrary.
Corporations are quite capable of promoting trade themselves, with their own money.
Perhaps they could form private voluntary consortia to negotiate with foreign governments. Have that lazy House Majority Leader Dick Armey call a meeting of the Business Roundtable CEOs, and tell them they can no longer depend on the federal government to pry open foreign markets on their behalf. Recommend that they fire their multimillion-dollar trade lobbyists, and use those considerable resources to better serve consumers. This trade policy stance would endear the Republican Congress to every taxpayer in America. It appears that we can't trust the Cato Institute to recommend it.