---
title: "WTO & the Multilateral Trade Regime Explained"
description: "Trace the trade regime from GATT 1947 to the WTO's Marrakesh Agreement, its dispute settlement crisis and the Doha deadlock, as examiners test it for the exam."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/exam-global-institutions-wto-the-trade-regime"
---

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WTO & the trade regime

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# WTO & the trade regime

From GATT 1947 to the WTO's Marrakesh Agreement, its dispute settlement crisis, and the Doha deadlock—the trade regime examiners test.

## The architecture: GATT 1947 to Marrakesh 1994

The multilateral trade regime began as the **General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), signed 30 October 1947** by 23 contracting parties and provisionally applied from 1 January 1948. GATT was never a formal organisation; the stillborn **International Trade Organization (ITO)**, negotiated in the **Havana Charter of 1948**, was never ratified by the United States, leaving GATT as a provisional treaty that governed trade for nearly five decades through eight negotiating 'rounds'.

The **Uruguay Round (1986–1994)**, launched at Punta del Este, was the most ambitious. It concluded with the **Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, signed 15 April 1994**, which created the WTO on **1 January 1995** as a permanent body with legal personality. The WTO now has **166 members** (Comoros and Timor-Leste acceded in 2024), covering over 98% of world trade.

## The covered agreements and core principles

The WTO administers a single undertaking of agreements annexed to Marrakesh: **GATT 1994** (goods), the **General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)**, the **Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)**, and the **Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)**. Two non-tariff pillars are the **SPS Agreement** (sanitary and phytosanitary measures) and the **TBT Agreement** (technical barriers to trade).

The regime rests on two non-discrimination rules. **Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN), GATT Article I**, requires that any advantage granted to one member be extended to all. **National Treatment, GATT Article III**, requires imported goods, once across the border, to be treated no less favourably than domestic goods. Exceptions are codified: **Article XXIV** permits customs unions and free-trade areas; the **Enabling Clause (1979)** permits the Generalized System of Preferences for developing countries; and **Article XX** allows general exceptions for public morals, health and conservation.

## Decision-making and the agriculture flashpoint

The WTO decides by **consensus** (Marrakesh Agreement Article IX), with the **Ministerial Conference** as the supreme organ meeting at least biennially—MC13 was held in Abu Dhabi in February–March 2024. The **Agreement on Agriculture** divides support into the **Amber Box** (trade-distorting, capped by the Aggregate Measurement of Support), the **Blue Box** (production-limiting), and the **Green Box** (non-distorting, exempt). The **de minimis** thresholds—10% of production value for developing countries, 5% for developed—and India's demand for a permanent solution on **public stockholding for food security** (a Bali 2013 'peace clause' issue) are recurring exam fodder.

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