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Hello, you're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Freddie Chick, and today I'm taking you back to one of the most historic trade agreements of our time.

I've been talking to former US Trade Representative Charlene Barshevsky about negotiating the deal that would lead to China

joining the World Trade Organization.

There is no doubt that the WTO deal

led to an extraordinary change in economic policies and in market opening.

On the 11th of December 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization after over a decade of talks.

China has been negotiating its entry into the Gats of the WTO for 13 years now.

Black hair has turned white in the process.

Now the negotiations must end.

The subsequent explosion in its international trade

and its rapid economic development transformed both China and the world.

China had to reform its economy and open up on a vastly different scale.

Charlene Bachevski was the US Trade Representative during President Bill Clinton's administration

and became the architect and chief negotiator of the

chief negotiator of the terms of China's entry into the WTO.

...