Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
22
CHAPTERII
alcoholbeverages,cheeseandvegetables.TheEuropeanEconomicCommunity
threatenedtotakeretaliatingsteps.ItshouldbepointedoutherethattheEEC
hadmuchearlierpreparedalistofcountermeasuresagainsttheimportsofmany
Americanagriculturalproducts,suchasgrain,fruitjuiceorbeer.TheUnited
States,expectingtheresponsefromEEC,preparedfurtherstepsdirectedatthe
Community.Thatiswhytheproblemsrelatedtothedevelopmentofthattrade
werethereasonforstartingnewmultilateralnegotiations(Michałek,1987).
AftertheUruguayRounditcanbestatedthatthisroundpreventedseveral
potentiallydestructiveconflictsinthefieldoftradeandalsomadepossible
furtherliberalisationofinternationaltradeinagriculturalproductsandinservices
(Gray,1983).
GATThasalsoworkedoutalegalsystemofsolvingconflictsandtherules
oftrading,togetherwiththeprincipleofbiggeropenness.Byprohibitingthe
discriminationofthepartnersduringthenegotiations,theorganisationtried
toprotecttheweakeragainsttheenforcementofthewillofthestrongeron
them.AlltheGATTsignatorieshadtheoreticallythesamestatus(unlikein
BrettonWoodsinstitutions),althoughinthepastithappenedsothatduring
thenegotiationsthestrongerdefinedtherulesanddeterminedtheconditions.
TheweaknessofGATTliedinitslimitedmandate,sincethatorganisation
didnotdealwiththetradeinallgoods,therawmaterialsforproducingpower
included.Alsothetradeinservices,althoughtheirshareinoveralltradevalue
reached20%,forthefirsttimecouldbefoundintheprogramoftheUruguay
Round(MartinandWinters,1995).Thecharacterofnegotiatingprocesses
constitutedanotherlimitationofGATT.Thosenegotiationsveryoftenwere
laborious,longandconfrontational.Oneofthekeyproblemswasthattheywere
basedonmutuality,andthat,inturn,ontheassumptionthatgrantingabroader
accesstoimportswouldconstitutea“concession”expectedfromtheothers.
Thisresultedintheatmosphereinwhichtheexistingprotectionisttendencies
werebeingovercomemoreslowlyandtherewereproblemswithsolvingthe
tradeconflicts.Inspiteofthosedifficultiesandprotractednegotiations,the
participantseventuallyreachedcompromisesandfavourablesolutionsforthe
developmentoftheinternationaltrade.
2.EstablishingtheWorldTradeOrganisation(WTO)
andtheIssuesofFurtherReductionsofTradeBarriers
Asaresult,UruguayRoundanumberofchangesandadditionswereintroduced
totheGATTtextandtootheragreementsreachedunderitsauspices.They
weresupposedtostrengthentherulesoftheinternationaltradesystem,the
rulesthathadbeenearlierseriouslyviolatedbytheapplicationofdepartures
