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The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was first signed in 1947. Was designed
GATT ???
A Treaty, not an Organization
Was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the ITO
The Bretton Woods Conference introduced the idea for an organization to regulate trade as part of a larger plan for economic recovery after World War II
As governments negotiated the ITO, 15 negotiating states began parallel negotiations for the GATT as a way to attain early tariff reductions Once the ITO failed in 1950, only the GATT agreement was left.
Objective
The GATT's main objective was the
History
3 Phases
First Phase , from 1947 until the Torquay Round
A second phase, encompassing three rounds, from 1959 to 1979
First Phase
Commodities which would be covered by the agreement and freezing existing tariff levels
Year Place/name Geneva
Subjects covered
1947 1949
Tariffs Tariffs
Annecy
1951
Torquay
Tariffs
Second Phase
Focused on reducing tariffs
Subjects covered
Year 1960-1961
Tariffs
1964-1967
1973-1979
Third Phase
Extended the agreement fully to new areas such as intellectual property, services, capital, and agriculture. Out of this round the WTO was born.
Year
Place/name
Subjects covered
1986-1994
Tariffs, non-tariff measures, rules, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, textiles, agriculture, creation of WTO, etc
ROUNDS
NAME START DURAT COUNTR SUB. ION IES COVERED ACHIVEMENTS
SIGNING OF GATT,
APRIL
1.GENEVA
7
MONTHS
45,000 TARIFF
1947
23
TARIFFS
2. ANNECY
APRIL 1949
5 MONTHS
13
TARIFFS
EXCHANGED SOME
5000 TARIFF CONCESSIONS.
ROUNDS CONT
DURATIO COUNT N RIES SUB. COVERED
NAME
START
ACHEVEMENTS
COUNTRIES EXCHANGED SOME
3. TORQUAY
SEPT. 1950
8 MONTHS
38
TARIFFS
4. GENEVA II
26
ADMISSION OF JAPAN
26
TARIFFS
ROUNDS CONT
NAME START DURATION COUNTRI SUB. ES COVERED
TARIFFS & ANTIDUMPING
ACHIVEMENTS
TARIFF CONCESSION WORTH $40 BILLION OF WORLD TRADE
6. KENNEDY
MAY 1964
37 MONTHS
62
TARIFF, NON
7. TOKYO
SEPT.
1973
TARIFF
74 MONTHS
102
TARIFFS,NON TARIFFS,RULES,
8.
SEPT.
87 MONTHS
123
SERVICES,IP,DI
Continual reductions in tariffs helped spur very high rates of world trade growth during the 1950s and 1960s around 8% a year on average
Trade growth consistently out-paced production growth The rush of new members during the Uruguay Round demonstrated recognition of multilateral trading system as the anchor for development and an instrument of economic and trade reform.
But.
GATTs success in reducing tariffs to a low level, with a series of economic recessions 1970-80s drove governments to devise other forms of protection for sectors facing increased foreign competition
High rates of unemployment and constant factory closures led governments in Western Europe and North America to seek bilateral market-sharing arrangements with competitors and to embark on a subsidies race to maintain their holds on agricultural trade
The problem was not just a deteriorating trade policy environment. By the early 1980s the General Agreement was clearly no longer as relevant to the realities of world trade as it had been in the 1940s
World trade had become far more complex and important than 40 years before The globalization of the world economy was underway Trade in services not covered by GATT rules Ever increasing international investments
Factors convinced GATT members that a new effort to reinforce and extend the multilateral system should be attempted.
That effort resulted in the Uruguay Round, the Marrakesh Declaration, and the creation of the WTO.
Thank You