世界貿易組織的成立以及自由貿易協定(Free Trade Agreement)的締結，促成了全球貿易的自由化以及國際產業供應鏈的重整。然而，伴隨國際貿易自由化而產生的國際財富分配不均，以及發展中國家未能因貿易自由化獲益的問題，亦導致發展中國家和已開發國家之齟齬日漸加深。開發中國家因此擔憂國際貿易的自由化不但無法幫助其實現脫貧的目標，更可能如國際政治經濟學依賴理論(dependency theory)所描述，導致發展中國家成為已開發國家經濟成長的墊腳石。 ..

The World Trade Organization and proliferating free trade agreements (FTAs) have contributed to the liberalization of global trade and the shift of the international supply chain. Nevertheless, trade liberalization has also led to the conflict between developing nations and developed nations and has increased the former’s concerns about the negative impact of trade on development. Premised on the dependency theory, developing nations contend that increasing free trade could worsen their dependency on the developed marke..