Which 1947 agreement provided the main international framework for reducing tariffs before the WTO existed?

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade provided the main international framework for reducing tariffs before the WTO existed.

GATT was signed in Geneva on 30 October 1947 by 23 countries and entered into force provisionally on 1 January 1948. It was intended as part of a wider postwar economic system, alongside planned institutions for international monetary and financial cooperation. A proposed International Trade Organization never came into operation, leaving GATT as the central multilateral trade arrangement.

GATT organized successive negotiation rounds that reduced tariffs and developed rules against discriminatory treatment and certain trade restrictions. The most ambitious round, the Uruguay Round, ran from 1986 to 1994 and led to the creation of the WTO.

GATT did not vanish in 1995. GATT 1994 became one of the WTO’s goods agreements, while the original 1947 text and later legal instruments remain important historical foundations. GATT mainly covered trade in goods; the WTO added broader institutional coverage for services and intellectual property.