THROWBACKTHISDAY; The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.

On thisday October 1947 the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which was a multilateral agreement regulating international trade was founded.  According to its preamble, its purpose was the "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis." It was negotiated during the United NationsConference on Trade and Employment and was the outcome of the failure of negotiating governments to create the International Trade Organization (ITO). GATT was signed by 23 nations in Geneva on October 30, 1947 and took effect on January 1, 1948.

 It lasted until the signature by 123 nations in Marrakesh on April 14, 1994 of the Uruguay Round Agreements, which established the World Trade Organization (WTO) on January 1, 1995.

The original GATT text (GATT 1947) is still in effect under the WTO framework, subject to the modifications of GATT 1994