Final answer:
The World Trade Organization works to reduce protectionism, encouraging non-discriminatory policies that treat foreign products equally to domestic products. It ensures health and safety standards are scientifically based and non-preferential. The WTO's role in facilitating negotiations to reduce trade barriers helps member countries counteract domestic protectionist pressures.
Step-by-step explanation:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is instrumental in shaping global trade policies, with a focus on reducing protectionism and encouraging fair trade practices among countries. The WTO advocates that all members should not discriminate between their own domestic industries and foreign industries, ensuring that everyone abides by the same safety and quality standards. The notion that a country should treat foreign entities equally to its own is encapsulated in the principle often referred to as the golden rule in trade policy. This principle is particularly crucial for maintaining the integrity of international trade agreements and ensuring that trade benefits are accessible to all participating countries, including smaller nations.
Under WTO rules, it is essential for member states to have scientific bases for any health and safety standards they impose, prohibiting them from setting one standard for domestic products and another for imported goods, or different standards for imports based on their origin. The WTO serves as a negotiating platform where nations can come together to discuss and agree on ways to lower trade barriers. Such international agreements can help countries restrain local special interests that might lobby for tariffs or quotas on imports, thereby promoting a more open, predictable, and fair international trade environment that can benefit a wide range of stakeholders.