(Finance and Economics) What is the intention behind Russia's planned withdrawal from the WTO?
China News Agency, Beijing, May 18 (Reporter Li Xiaoyu) Russia plans to withdraw from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Analysts believe that this move seems to have changed from passive to active, but it is actually detrimental to Russia's long-term development.
Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the Russian Duma, said recently that Russia has withdrawn from the European Commission, and the next step is the WTO and the WHO.
"The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has submitted to the State Duma a list of relevant agreements, and we are planning to evaluate them together with the Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) and then propose withdrawal," he said.
According to regulations, any member who wants to withdraw from the WTO must submit a written withdrawal notice to the WTO Director-General.
Denunciation takes effect 6 months after the date on which this notification is received by the Director General.
After withdrawing, Russia's economic and trade relations with other WTO members will return from multilateral trade relations to bilateral trade relations, and will no longer enjoy various preferential treatment of WTO members, and of course do not have to fulfill their obligations as members.
Chen Fengying, a researcher at the Institute of World Economics at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said in an interview with a reporter from China News Agency that Russia's withdrawal from the WTO may have the following reasons: First, the WTO mainly involves manufacturing and service industries, while Russia's trade in oil and gas, etc. Energy is the main source of energy, and it joined the WTO late. It does not enjoy all-round dividends in the WTO, and the cost of exit is relatively small. Second, the United States and Europe have previously stopped the most-favored-nation treatment for Russia, and the most-favored-nation treatment is the most prominent as a WTO member. one of the benefits.
Now that this benefit has been lost, it doesn't make much sense for Russia to stay in the WTO.
In Chen Fengying's view, Russia's move is to "retreat as an advance" and is a defensive counterattack against the deprivation of Russia's most-favored-nation status by the United States and Europe.
This may be motivated by a rather optimistic expectation that, as the world's leading oil and gas exporter, leaving the WTO would not be materially harmful to Russia's energy exports.
Russia's current account surplus more than tripled to $95.8 billion in the first four months of this year, the highest since at least 1994, as prices for oil and gas exports soared under pressure from sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies, official data showed.
However, withdrawing from the WTO is by no means a wise choice for Russia in the long run.
Chen Fengying said that one of the reasons why the United States and Europe imposed comprehensive sanctions on Russia is to kick Russia out of the world economic system, completely isolate Russia, and destroy the Russian economy.
Under such circumstances, Russia's voluntary withdrawal from the WTO must be said to be in the favor of the United States.
The WTO stipulates that as long as existing members request, applicants for accession need to negotiate with them.
Analysts believe that once Russia withdraws from the WTO, it will be even more difficult to join again.
Decoupled from the multilateral trading system represented by the WTO, Russian trade will lose the support of globalization.
If a country wants to develop, it can only do so in an open international environment, and self-isolation will eventually lose its vitality.
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