The SPS Agreement has changed the way trade decisions on agricultural products are made. Their main intention is to facilitate trade and prevent sanitary and phytosanitary measures from being used as unjustified barriers to trade. The agreement provides that all measures must be scientifically based and not unnecessarily restrictive, while recognizing the right of countries to protect the life or health of humans, animals or plants. Gatt held a total of eight rounds, during which countries traded tariff concessions and reduced tariffs. The third provision was added in 1965 and was addressed to developing countries that have acceded to the GATT. Industrialized countries have agreed to eliminate tariffs on imports from developing countries in order to stimulate these economies. The reduction in tariffs has also benefited industrialized countries. When GATT increased middle-class consumers around the world, the demand for trade with industrialized countries increased. At the beginning of GATT, the focus was on reducing tariffs and import duties in order to promote trade and reduce protectionism. This has been largely achieved for industrial products over the many trade cycles. Tariffs on trade in industrial products were reduced from about 40% to less than 5% between the introduction of GATT and the current implementation of the Uruguay Round. This process of tariff reduction is only at an early stage for agri-food products. Gatt and its successor, the WTO, have succeeded in reducing tariffs.
Average tariffs for the main GATT participants were about 22% in 1947 and 5% after the Uruguay Round in 1999. [4] Experts attribute some of these customs changes to GATT and the WTO. [5] [6] [7] Relative to the combined GDP of its members, the trading bloc is the largest in the world as of 2010. NAFTA has two additions: the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) and the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC). The objective of NAFTA was to remove barriers to trade and investment between the United States, Canada and Mexico. Article XX of the GATT (also known as the chapeau clause) contains a list of ten permitted derogations from the principles of free trade set out in the agreement. In May 1963, ministers agreed on three negotiating objectives for the Round: the objective of GATT was to eliminate the harmful tug-of-trade.