That is a good thing. We live in an age where democracy has flourished, where voters and consumers want more information and control, greater accountability and greater ownership. The challenge is how to work together internationally for the benefit of ordinary people everywhere. The WTO is at the very heart of this debate. That is not surprising.
International trade is an important cross-border issue.
Even more so nowadays, since trade policy touches on sensitive issues like the environment and food safety, which are becoming the very stuff of politics in the post-Cold War era. I have no doubt that the WTO is a force for good in the world. A glance at history tells us that the past 50 years of trade liberalisation are incomparably better than the protectionist nightmare of the 1930s. Indeed, the last 50 years has seen unparalleled prosperity and growth and more has been done to address poverty in these last 50 years than the previous 500. Let me give some important examples.