The WTO agreements are lengthy and complex because they are legal texts covering a wide range of activities. They deal with: agriculture, textiles and clothing, banking, telecommunications, government purchases, industrial standards, food sanitation regulations, intellectual property, and much more.

But a number of simple, fundamental principles run throughout all of these documents. These principles are the foundation of the multilateral trading system.

1. Trade without discrimination

A country should not discriminate between its trading partners (they are all, equally, granted "most-favored-nation" or MFN status); and it should not discriminate between its own and foreign products, services or nationals (they are given "national treatment").

2. Freer trade: gradually, through negotiation

Lowering trade barriers is one of the most obvious means of encouraging trade. The barriers concerned include customs duties (or tariffs) and measures such as import bans or quotas that restrict quantities selectively. From time to time other issues such as red tape and exchange rate policies have also been discussed.

Opening markets can be beneficial, but it also requires adjustment. The WTO agreements allow countries to introduce changes gradually, through "progressive liberalization". Developing countries are usually given longer to fulfill their obligations.

3. Promoting fair competition

The WTO is sometimes described as a "free trade" institution, but that is not entirely accurate. The system does allow tariffs and, in limited circumstances, other forms of protection. More accurately, it is a system of rules dedicated to open, fair and undistorted competition.

The rules on non-discrimination -- MFN and national treatment -- are designed to secure fair conditions of trade. So too are those on dumping (exporting at below cost to gain market share) and subsidies. The issues are complex, and the rules try to establish what is fair or unfair, and how governments can respond, in particular by charging additional import duties calculated to compensate for damage caused by unfair trade.

Many of the other WTO agreements aim to support fair competition: in agriculture, intellectual property, services, for example. The agreement on government procurement (a "plurilateral" agreement because it is signed by only a few WTO members) extends competition rules to purchases by thousands of "government" entities in many countries. And so on.

4. Balance of rights and obligations

WTO members shall implement obligations required by the WTO such as abiding the basic regulations of the WTO, carrying out the obligations of tariff reductions as promised and guaranteeing the uniformity and transparency of trade policies and regulations. At the same time, WTO members also enjoy a series of rights granted by the trading organization.