ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the impact of Economic Community (EC)-1992 on the evolution of General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) and vice versa. Many Cassandras predicted that any failure of the Uruguay Round would split the world into a triad of rival, closed trading blocs in America, Europe and the Asian/Pacific region - or into dollar, D-Mark/ECU and yen zones. The solution adopted by negotiators for GATT was that "awkward" sectors should be dealt with in annexes to General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), accommodating the scope and pace of the application of GATS's general principles to their special circumstances. Many Americans especially feared that the EC might resort to reciprocity, a position that could have seriously frustrated aims sought in the Uruguay Round. The EC employs a variety of mechanisms to develop its industrial base and strengthen its internal cohesion.
