GATTs

GATTs refers to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the postwar multilateral framework governing international trade in goods. The term can describe both the original GATT of 1947 and its later consolidated text, often associated with the 1994 agreement that accompanied the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Although “GATTs” is not commonly used, it appears in some literature to denote the evolving GATT framework over time.

The core purpose of the GATT was to promote economic recovery and growth by reducing barriers to trade. It established key principles that shaped international trade rules for decades, most notably the most-favoured-nation (MFN) principle, which requires members to treat all trading partners equally, and the national treatment principle, which obliges imported goods to receive the same internal tax and regulatory treatment as domestically produced goods after they have cleared customs. Tariff concessions were binding and listed in tariff schedules negotiated in rounds of negotiations.

GATT also provided a framework for trade policy transparency and negotiation. It supported rounds of tariff reductions and broader disciplines, including rules on anti-dumping and subsidies, and a mechanism for consultations and dispute resolution to resolve disagreements among members. The agreements within the GATT system were expanded over time through amendments and annexed agreements.

History and evolution: negotiations began in 1947 in Geneva, with subsequent rounds such as Kennedy, Tokyo, and Uruguay. The Uruguay Round (1986–1994) led to the establishment of the WTO and the incorporation of GATT 1994, a consolidated version of the GATT 1947 text with expanded rules. Since 1995, WTO members have continued to apply GATT rules to trade in goods under a more comprehensive institutional framework.

Today, GATTs' rules remain the core of multilateral trade discipline for goods, administered within the WTO dispute settlement system, while services and intellectual property are governed by separate WTO agreements.