ABSTRACT
In trade policy, the accepted paradigm among practitioners and their think tank colleagues was multilateralism, interdependence and non-discrimination. The Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations is now in its final stages. Britain’s pursuit of unilateral free trade and the negotiation of a series of interlocking most favored nation trade agreements based on the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty between England and France in 1860 had encouraged that trade. Increased international trade and competition in turn accelerated globalization or harmonization of consumer tastes and demand, setting the stage for a new paradigm shift and a further internationalization of the economy. The GATT concept of free trade is less about trade that is wholly free of government interference and more about a fixed-rule regime that guarantees equality of opportunity to all producers, no matter what their country of origin.
