Origins
Following World War II, the architects of the Bretton Woods Agreement proposed the formation of an international trade organisation to oversee a new multilateral system of international trade. The international trade organisation was intended to sit alongside the International Monetary Fund (IMF); however, it never came into existence due to opposition in the US Congress, which was concerned that such organisation would encroach excessively on domestic sovereignty. This led to the negotiation of a provisional agreement: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the GATT).
The GATT was intended to preserve parties tariff reduction commitments until the international trade organisation was established. However, the GATT ended up becoming a permanent framework for the multilateral trading system and was considered to be the default basis. Various negotiations have been held under the GATT, initially relating to tariff reductions but evolving to include other areas such as