ABSTRACT
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is the international counterpart to US tariff policy. When the GATT agreement was signed, in 1947, the most recent experiences with trade agreements amongst countries with market economies were those concluded under the trade agreements programme of the US since 1934 and the preferential trading agreements amongst the countries of the British empire which were concluded in 1932. Initially, GATT drew on the experiences of the US trade agreements programme since 1934 and British negotiating methods in dealings with Commonwealth countries. The scheduled concessions too were multilaterally applied. But they continued to be bilaterally negotiated and agreed. Nor was there a general approach towards tariffs, within the bilateral negotiations of 1947. With the accession of Japan, and two years later of Switzerland, GATT embraced all of the industrial market economies. An exact replay, with a new cast, is unlikely.
