The GATT has introduced the principle of the most favoured nation into members` collective agreements. The goal of the GATT was to eliminate harmful trade protectionism. Trade protectionism probably contributed to the 66% reduction in world trade during the Great Depression. The GATT helped restore the world`s economic health after the ravages of depression and World War II. The working hypothesis for collective bargaining was a linear reduction of 50% in tariffs, with the smallest number of exceptions. A long-term argument has developed about the trade effects of a uniform linear reduction on the dispersed rates (low tariffs and high rates quite far away) of the United States compared to the much more concentrated rates of the EEC, which also tended to be under the ownership of U.S. tariffs. In addition, countries could restrict trade for national security reasons. These include patent protection, copyright and public morality. One of GATT`s most important achievements has been indiscriminate trade. Any GATT signatory should be treated like any other, known to be the nation`s most privileged principle and entered into the WTO. The practical result was that, once a country had negotiated a tariff reduction with some other countries (usually its major trading partners), this reduction would automatically apply to all GATT signatories. There were escape clauses under which countries could negotiate exemptions if their domestic producers were particularly harmed by tariff reductions.

Following the UK`s vote to leave the European Union, proponents of leaving the European Union proposed that Article 24, paragraph 5B of the treaty could be used to maintain a “stalemate” in trade conditions between the UK and the EU if the UK left the EU without a trade deal. to prevent the introduction of tariffs. Proponents of this approach believe that it could be used to implement an interim agreement until a final agreement of up to ten years is negotiated. [25] Among the original GATT members, Syria[19][20], Lebanon[21] and the SFR-Yugoslavia have not re-joined the WTO. Given that Yugoslavia (renamed in Serbia and Montenegro and later two shared accession negotiations) is not recognised as a direct successor to the SFRY; Therefore, its application is considered new (non-GATT). On 4 May 2010, the WTO General Council decided to set up a working group to review Syria`s application for WTO membership. [22] [23] The WTO parties terminated the 1947 GATT formal agreement on 31 December 1995. Montenegro became a member in 2012, while Serbia is in the decision-making phase and is expected to become a member of the WTO in the future. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was a free trade agreement that eliminated tariffs and increased international trade. As the first multilateral free trade agreement, GATT governed an important part of international trade between January 1, 1948 and January 1, 1995. The agreement ended when it was replaced by the more robust World Trade Organization (WTO).

NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States, which has created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a multilateral agreement regulating international trade. The GATT came into force on January 1, 1948. From the beginning, it was refined, which eventually led to the creation, on 1 January 1995, of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which absorbed and expanded it. To date, 125 nations signed its agreements, which covered about 90% of world trade. , excluding textiles, chemicals, steel and other sensitive products; In addition to a 15% to 18% reduction in tariffs on agricultural and food products.