What agreement governed international tariff negotiations before the World Trade Organization began in 1995?

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade governed international tariff negotiations before the World Trade Organization began in 1995.

GATT was signed in Geneva in 1947 and entered into force on 1 January 1948. It was designed to reduce tariffs and other barriers while encouraging predictable, nondiscriminatory trade between participating economies.

Although GATT was intended initially as part of a proposed International Trade Organization, that organization was never established. GATT therefore operated for decades as both a legal agreement and a practical negotiating system.

The Uruguay Round led to the creation of the WTO. GATT 1994 remains part of WTO law for trade in goods, so the agreement did not simply disappear when the organization changed.