Provides basic information and a broad overview of the institution that some say is designed to control the world to the advantage of the rich and others say is designed to function as the economic equivalent of NATO, seeking world hegemony for its controllers. Covers the WTO and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, background and issues, future negotiations, dispute settlement and trade problems with Japan, and the Singapore ministerial. The substantial annotated bibliography includes web sites. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR