The World Trade Organization

The implementation of a multilateral trade and payments system was facilitated by the establishment of the Fund and the Bank. It proved more difficult to reach agreement on the reduction of customs duties and the abolition of quantitative restrictions and discriminations, partly owing to the fact that these matters were more closely bound up with balance-of-payments equilibrium. In order to avoid a recurrence of the protectionism of the 1930s vigorous efforts were necessary to dismantle these various kinds of trade barriers. This chapter is devoted to the action taken in this respect within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and later the World Trade Organization (WTO).