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Article: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE
GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE
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the world's major multinational trade agreement
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and the international secretariat that oversees its operations, are both referred to as GATT. More than 100 nations are signatories, and many others pattern their trade policies on its provisions. Although Cold War tensions excluded some nations, including the Soviet Union and the Chinese governments in Taipei and Beijing, GATT served as the major international trade agreement, affecting the vast majority of world trade. In the 1990s, the end of the Cold War led to the incorporation of the former Eastern Bloc nations into GATT negotiations. The ...