1 Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Comercial Internacional / Latin American Journal of International Trade Law Volume 4, Issue 2, Year 2016 ISSN: 2007 - 7440 © Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2017 THINKING DIFFERENTLY ABOUT GATS MODE 4 NEGOTIATIONS ON THE MOVEMENT OF LOW SKILLED WORKERS

no issnI n principle, mode 4 is meant to facilitate cross - bo rder movement of all professions. However, in practice WTO Members have often refrained from making commitments orientated to benefitting low skilled workers. This paper looks at the economic, political and legal concerns that exist due to the current composition of GATS mode 4. It proposes a different approach to negotiations at the multilateral level which allows for discussion on the regulation of the entry, stay and return of a service supplier. Such an approach is might be considered controversial. It would require WTO Members to discuss to a certain extent the labour standards to which temporary migrant workers would be subjected. Still, this paper finds th at the current composition of the GATS allows for the adoption of such a different approach. Changes to the law are discussed that could better facilitate negotiations on mode 4 movement beneficial to low skilled workers. Suggestions are made why the adopt ion of this different approach might be feasible in the current political climate. This paper’s objective is to suggest tools to further negotiate commitments more efficiently benefitting the subset of low skilled workers within the multilateral trading sy stem.status: publishe