ABSTRACT
With the usual hesitations, the world has been moving to a new round of trade negotiations. There is nothing wrong in this caution. An unsuccessful attempt to get talks under way might however be worse for the future of world trade than the present somewhat uneasy truce. The key to successful negotiations is understanding by the parties of what they stand to gain from the negotiating process. For this purpose, a discussion of the basic evolution of the trade system may be useful.
