What is the name of the international rule requiring equal trade treatment for all WTO members?

Most-favoured-nation treatment is the international trade rule requiring equal trade treatment for all WTO members.

Under the WTO’s most-favoured-nation principle, a member generally must extend any advantage it grants to one trading partner to like goods or services from all other WTO members. Despite its name, the rule does not mean giving one country special treatment; it means avoiding discrimination among trading partners.

The principle is central to GATT Article I for goods, GATS Article II for services and the TRIPS Agreement’s corresponding provisions. It helps make negotiated tariff concessions multilateral rather than limited to the two governments that originally bargain over them.

MFN treatment has recognized exceptions. Members may participate in free-trade areas or customs unions, and special arrangements can provide more favourable treatment to developing economies under defined conditions. MFN is also distinct from national treatment: MFN concerns discrimination between foreign trading partners, while national treatment concerns treatment of imported products after they enter the domestic market.