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Glite Dictionary
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

1 5.3
An international agreement from 1947 to reduce taxes on imports and other trade barriers
  • proper noun
translation icon : Acuerdo General sobre Aranceles y Comercio
  • In 1947, the main goal of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was to reduce trade barriers worldwide.
  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade's Uruguay Round
  • negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

Examples

  • In trade matters, the world is poised between promising expansion or damaging regression if the Uruguay Round is not completed or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade falls short as an ongoing institution of liberalized trade.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The trading system operated under a set of multilateral rules, embodied in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

    Academic text (1994)

  • Finally, it is of great importance to make the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade work.

    Academic text (1991)

  • QUESTION, Professor King: We are now negotiating the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") in the service sector.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Building on this achievement, in early 1992, Beijing again began to push vigorously for entry into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

    Academic text (1992)

  • For a fifth year, the G-7 leaders called for the completion of the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The anti-dumping laws have to be based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") in the United States and Canada.

    Academic text (1991)

  • However, when these negotiations collapsed, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ("GATT") became the main framework governing trading relationships.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Sixth, we have had an avenue of resolution of trade disputes previously in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and now with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

    Academic text (2001)

  • The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade laid the groundwork for the establishment of the World Trade Organization.

Synonyms

GATT
vsGeneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
95 6.5

An international agreement and organization that helped countries trade by reducing import taxes and limits

focuses on the 1947 treaty and its evolution into the WTO

Surface Forms

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade main

Morphology

general + agreement + on + tariff + and + trade

The phrase is a literal composition: 'general' (broad), 'agreement' (a formal arrangement), 'on' (about), and 'tariffs' + 'trade' (duties and commerce), so a learner who knows these words can infer it is an agreement concerning tariffs and trade. It is a proper-name for a specific international treaty (historical details like date or WTO link are not derivable), but the core topical meaning is directly predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade began in 1947 when countries sat around a table and agreed to cut tariffs, which are taxes on goods, so trade could move more freely. That's why its name shows it is an international deal to lower trade barriers, and it later became the basis for the World Trade Organization.