Founded 1995 Area served Global | Focus International Trade | |
Type Consumer advocacy non-profit Location Washington D.C., United States Method Research, lobbying, litigation and appeals, media attention, direct-appeal campaigns | ||
Global Trade Watch (GTW) was founded by Lori Wallach in 1995 as a division of the U.S.-based non-profit consumer advocacy organization, Public Citizen, that monitors the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), as well as ongoing negotiations over trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA / TTIP). Like Public Citizen in general, GTW advocates for a greater public role in international, federal, state and local policy-making, and for a different set of policies and institutions than those governing the current model of globalization.
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Global Trade Watch holds a position on the executive board on the Citizens Trade Campaign and belongs to Our World Is Not For Sale.
Founding
Lori Wallach, GTW's Director and Founder was described as "Ralph Nader with a sense of humor" in a Wall Street Journal profile, dubbed "the Trade Debate's Guerrilla Warrior" by the National Journal, the "Madame Defarge of Seattle" by the Institute for International Economics, and "a key player in Washington debates on trade policy" by The Nation. Wallach is a graduate of Harvard University and previously worked for Public Citizen as a lobbyist for food safety improvements.