Uruguay Round

The Uruguay Round built the rulebook that governs most international trade today, including the WTO itself, which began operating on January 1, 1995. It brought agriculture, textiles, services and intellectual property under trade rules and created binding dispute settlement. It also produced agreements on customs valuation, rules of origin and import licensing that customs authorities still apply. For importers, its legacy includes bound tariff rates that cap many duties, the phase-out of global textile and apparel quotas by 2005, and the standard methods for valuing goods and declaring origin on every customs entry.

• Harmonized Tariff ScheduleHTSUS product codes that set import duty rates
• Country of OriginCountry where goods were made
• Antidumping DutyADExtra duty on goods sold below fair value

• Kennedy Round1964–1967 · GATT talks cut industrial tariffs by about 35 percent
• Tokyo Round1973–1979 · GATT talks add the first codes on non-tariff barriers
• World Trade Organization (WTO) Established1995 · The WTO takes over from GATT as the trade rules forum

• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)1947 · Postwar treaty that set most-favored-nation tariff rules
• Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA)1974–2004 · 1974 to 2004 quota system for textile and apparel trade

1. Marrakesh Declaration of 15 April 1994 (World Trade Organization) wto.org
2. Uruguay Round (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org