ABSTRACT
Policymakers saw several ways that an institutionalized liberal trading system could promote peace among nations. Poor nations assailed the non-discrimination principle as a sham that used liberal rhetoric to disguise the role played by power politics in the institutional foundation of international trade. The extension of trade liberalization into new sectors reflects both changes in the nature of modern economies and shifts in the power balances among nations. The resolution of trade dilemmas embodied in Bretton Woods was profoundly shaped by the Great Depression and World War II. With respect to the values dilemma, these events made economic growth and global peace the twin values sought most ardently by policymakers, priorities most visible in the design of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The ultimate goals of GATT/World Trade Organization are classically liberal but the means used to accomplish them reveals an underlying philosophy that contains both liberal and mercantilist assumptions.
