Why does the WTO encourage the use of tariffs instaed of quotas?

Answer 1

Tariffs don't limit trade as much.

If you go by quotas that means you have a certain number of any product allowed to be traded.

If you go with tariffs then as many of the product as can be produced can be traded if there is adequate demand.

Tariffs also provide income to the country the product gets imported to.

Answer 2

Tariffs are used by governments to protect the economic industrial base of their respective countries. Why Ronald Reagan chose to do away with tariffs on imported goods and services in the United States is beyond me, but the result is the current massive trade deficit and current trend of corporate exodus to lower wage countries of companies who once provided jobs for Americans.

Reagan started it off, and Clinton nailed the coffin shut on U.S. economic dominance of the world. The EU and Asian conglomerates have all but bought the industrial base of the U.S. right out from under the Americans. A modern country cannot equip it's military or support it's population without an industrial base. The United States of America is the only major country in the world to not use tariffs to protect it's people and economy. It is inexcusable on the part of U.S. leadership, the only explinaiton is they wish to destroy their own society.