Trade is not a panacea for the political, economic and social problems of the world. But it is a force for peace and cross-cultural contact. Countries are less likely to go to war against their trading partners than they are against strangers. The WTO furthers the process of protecting against commercial skirmishes and potential trade wars by forging agreement among nations on trade protocols.

Without the WTO, trade would be too dangerous a proposition for countries to leave to their trade ministries, and eventually trade disputes could become national security issues. A non-WTO world would more closely resemble the international economy before World War II, where countries used trade as tools of foreign policy, and international commerce was a pawn of aggressor states. As Franklin D. Roosevelt's former secretary of state Cordell Hull said, "When goods do not cross borders, armies do."

Fortunately we do not live in that world.

Indeed, if the WTO didn't exist, we would have to create it. And that is precisely what the United States and 22 other countries did in 1948.

Today, 134 members of the WTO are dedicated to preventing trade conflicts from getting out of hand. By nature, the wheels of international law move slowly, but the WTO patiently and continuously improves its rules and institutions in order to make the world a better place. Through successive rounds of trade talks going back to 1949, the GATT and its successor the WTO have reduced tariffs on goods from industrial countries from an average of more than 40 percent in 1948 to today's 3.9 percent. As a result, trade has exploded; today it is 26 times the volume of 1949.

Through GATT and WTO, countries have tackled and solved some of the thorniest problems of trade, and have settled hundreds of trade disputes. The WTO has already:

As we enter a new era of high-tech global trade, there is every reason to expect the WTO will continue its efficient work improving the standards of living for all.

Let's welcome the WTO to Seattle and be thankful that the U.S. government and the WTO have chosen to kick off the next round of trade talks, the "Seattle" round, in our city.

Raymond J. Waldmann is vice president for International Relations at The Boeing Co. and serves as chairman of the Washington Council on International Trade.