International Political Economy.General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

International Political Economy
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International Political Economy
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was founded in 1947 to control the exchange of goods and services worldwide. The system of Bretton Woods was responsible for the formation of this organization after the Second World War. The paper discusses GATT’s principles based on the global trade regime.
GATT has five primary international trade principles, namely trade liberalization, safeguards, development, transparency and reciprocity, and nondiscrimination. Trade liberation refers to lowering, eradicating, and regulating trade barriers by setting grounds for multilateral negotiations (Cohn, 2016). In particular, GATT requires contracting parties to provide each other with favorable trading conditions. GATT allows governments to implement policies to safeguard the environment, animal, and public health. The organization understands that trade can sometimes cause pollution, particularly if firms are primarily focused on maximizing profits. Reciprocity enables GATT to emphasize equal benefits among trading partners. In addition,...