Which agreement established the World Trade Organization in 1995?

The Marrakesh Agreement established the World Trade Organization in 1995.

It was signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 15 April 1994, at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The agreement created the WTO and set out its institutional framework, functions, and legal relationship with the agreements in its annexes.

The WTO began operating on 1 January 1995, replacing the provisional General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade system as the central institution for global trade rules. The Marrakesh Agreement itself is sometimes confused with the GATT, but GATT is one of the agreements administered within the WTO framework, not the treaty that created the organization.

The agreement’s annexes cover goods, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, and trade policy review. Morocco’s city of Marrakesh therefore gave its name to the treaty that launched the modern WTO system.