Fifty Years of Canadian Tradecraft: Canada at the GATT 1947-1997

This book tells the story of Canadian interests and involvement in the evolution of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT - from its beginnings in the years immediately after the Second World War to its culmination in the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995.

Throughout the fifty years between the negotiation of the GATT and the establishment of the WTO, the most important milestones were the GATT's periodic negotiating conferences or rounds, each of which deepened and extended the commitment of members to liberal, multilateral, rules-based trade. In addition, the GATT succeeded as an institution for resolving disputes among members, as a forum for consultations among members, as an organization for sharing and analyzing basic trade information, and as a mechanism for encouraging increasing convergence in the economic policies of member governments. Canadian officials were among the most active players in GATT's development, convinced that in a world of larger traders, the promotion of Canadian trade interests was critically dependent on a multilateral framework of rules and appropriate procedures and on an institution to enforce them.

By its fiftieth anniversary in 1997, the GATT might not have attained status as a household word, but it had become sufficiently well-known to be recognized by a large numbers of Canadians. This book should serve to further demystify the GATT and its successor, the World Trade Organization, by telling the story of its development and Canada's active role in that story.

xvi, pp. 262, ISBN 1-896871-09-1 (bound), 1998, $25.00 xvi, pp. 262, ISBN 1-896871-11-9 (paperback), 1998, $15.00