Preferential Trade Agreements and the World Trade Organization (WTO)

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[...] The main purpose of this conference was to prepare for the post-war period in terms of international monetary payments. It was a matter of establishing an international monetary system ensuring stability and external convertibility of currencies. Two positions clashed during the conference: that defended by J.M. Keynes advocating for the creation of a supranational institution responsible for issuing an international currency, the 'bancor', used only in international exchanges; the other put forward by White proposing a new version of the gold standard. [...]

[...] Ricardo (1817), it is beneficial for economies taken as a whole to liberalize international exchanges, that is to say to reduce barriers (tariffs, quotas, etc.). In fact, according to these authors, the liberalization of international exchanges allows for greater economic efficiency. On the contrary, for certain economists, such as for example F. List, protectionism, that is to say the restriction of international exchanges, is a better economic policy. It would allow the domestic industry to develop without suffering from strong international competition. [...]

[...] What are the characteristics of preferential trade agreements? Preferential trade agreements, also sometimes referred to as regional trade agreements, are bilateral or regional agreements signed in favor of greater liberalization of trade by a group of countries. For example, one can cite NAFTA, an agreement signed in 1992 between the United States, Canada and Mexico. The main difference with agreements signed within the WTO is that these agreements are not multilateral: advances in terms of trade liberalization, such as a reduction in customs duties, do not benefit all WTO member countries, but only those who have signed the preferential trade agreement." What is meant by WTO and what is the difference with GATT? [...]