Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, in May. 2016
The acronym GATT is the acronym in English for General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which can be translated as general agreement on trade and tariffs. This agreement or agreement took place after the end of World War II, specifically in 1947 at the Havana Conference. United Nations was the institution promoted by the GATT, since in that historical context the world had the need to rebuild the economy global and for this it was necessary to establish a new framework of commercial relations.
The GATT was an agreement initially signed by 23 countries and this agreement was intended to end the protectionist laws that were applied in most nations.
From the GATT to the WTO
The main idea of the GATT was to endow the world economy with stability and a certain sense of world community, which has subsequently been called globalization.
The GATT was a multilareral body that allowed the member countries to have commercial alliances at a level of equality. At the same time, the GATT functioned as a
forum of debate that allowed to solve the differences between the member countries.Eight rounds of trade negotiations were held under the GATT in order to remove obstacles to trade and thereby create more wealth globally.
The GATT was in force for 47 years, during which the trade barriers of other eras were eliminated
In 1986 the last meeting of the GATT took place, known as the Uruguay Round. From then on, a course began that led to the creation of a new framework of international trade, the WTO (World Trade Organization).
The WTO was founded in 1995 and is based in Geneva
This supranational organism facilitates the free flow of commercial activity and allows solving the differences between the more than 120 member countries.
The WTO agreements cover goods, services and intellectual property. The agreements reached oblige to guarantee transparency in commercial activity.
On conclusion, the WTO provides a number of advantages to international trade: it facilitates the maintenance of world peace, greater freedom of trade results in an improvement in the quality of life of the majority of the population worldwide and more possibilities are offered to consumers.
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Issues in GATT