The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have played an important role in creating a predictable framework for companies conducting business internationally. Business leaders continue to express support for the institution in surveys but, privately, trade policymakers and opinion leaders in Geneva have questioned the commitment of business leaders to engage in the work of the WTO. As the institution faces its latest crisis, it is natural for the WTO’s supporters to turn to the business community for help – in making the economic case to policy makers for the rules‐based trading system, in encouraging governments to resolve their differences and make progress on key issues that threaten the system, and in identifying issues and opportunities where the WTO can serve as a forum to support trade‐related economic growth. The time and effort that businesses invest in this work depends, in part, on how they perceive the institution and, at the end of the day, how much they feel they are getting out of it. This paper therefore poses the question of whether the WTO is ‘in sync’ with the business community.

中文翻译：

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WTO是否与工商界同步？

世界贸易组织（WTO）和《关税与贸易总协定》（GATT）在为公司开展国际业务的公司建立可预测的框架方面发挥了重要作用。商业领袖继续在调查中表示对该机构的支持，但是私下里，日内瓦的贸易政策制定者和舆论领袖质疑商业领袖参与世贸组织工作的承诺。随着该机构面临最新危机，WTO的支持者自然会向工商界寻求帮助-在向决策者提供基于规则的贸易体系的经济案例，鼓励政府解决分歧并取得进展方面在威胁系统的关键问题上，在确定世贸组织可以用作支持与贸易有关的经济增长的论坛的问题和机会时。企业在这项工作上投入的时间和精力在一定程度上取决于他们如何看待该机构，最终取决于他们感觉要离开该机构的程度。因此，本文提出了WTO是否与工商界“同步”的问题。