The
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is an agreement between states and other entities on the rules for trade. It was signed in
Geneva,
Switzerland in
1947 by 23 states. It was not an
international organization, although there had been from the beginnings plans to establish an
International Trade Organization. The agreement was amended several times, including most recently by the
Marrakesh Agreement in 1995, which ended the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations, which established the
World Trade Organization. GATT functions as the foundation of the WTO trading system, and remains in force, although the 1995 Agreement contains an updated version of it to replace the original 1947 one.
The GATT, as an international agreement, is very similar to a treaty. Under United States law it is classed as a congressional-executive agreement.