General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was a multilateral agreement established in 1947 to reduce trade barriers among participating countries. It governed postwar trade negotiations until the World Trade Organization replaced it in 1995.

Most-favoured-nation treatment: A trade principle requiring a country to extend specified advantages to all covered trading partners. GATT used this principle to spread negotiated tariff concessions among members.
Havana Charter: A 1948 proposed charter for an International Trade Organization that never entered into force. Its failure left GATT as the central multilateral framework for trade.
World Trade Organization: An international organization established in 1995 to administer trade agreements and provide a forum for trade negotiations. The WTO replaced GATT’s provisional institutional arrangement while incorporating its goods-trade rules.
Protectionism: Government policies that shield domestic producers from foreign competition through trade barriers or related measures. GATT sought to constrain the tariff barriers commonly used for protectionist aims.
National treatment: A trade rule requiring imported goods to receive treatment no less favorable than comparable domestic goods after entry. GATT constrained discrimination against imports once they entered a member’s market.
International Trade Organization: A proposed postwar institution for trade that was never established because its charter was not ratified. GATT initially served without the broader institutional structure envisioned for the organization.
Uruguay Round: The 1986–1994 GATT negotiations that created the World Trade Organization and expanded multilateral trade rules. This final GATT round negotiated the transition to the WTO.
Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act: A 1930 United States law that sharply raised tariffs on many imported goods. Its tariff increases became a prominent warning against escalating trade barriers.
Tariff binding: A commitment that sets a maximum tariff rate a country may apply to specified imports. GATT schedules recorded ceilings that limited members’ freedom to raise tariffs.
Bretton Woods Conference: The 1944 conference that designed institutions for postwar international monetary and financial cooperation. GATT formed part of the wider postwar project to organize the global economy.

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