This book is the first in a series sponsored by the American Law Institute (ALI) on the foundations of world trade law as found in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and other agreements dealing with trade in goods under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The project is entitled Principles of World Trade Law and aims at illustrating the basic principles guiding trade liberalization. The ALI appointed Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis, Kyle W. Bagwell, Gene M. Grossman, Robert W. Staiger, and Alan O. Sykes as reporters. Douglas A. Irwin has been invited to act as a coauthor in this first volume.

This book sets the stage for the subsequent volumes by exploring the circumstances that gave rise to the GATT in 1947. It examines the origin and evolution of specific provisions that comprise the GATT, as well as present government documents and negotiate drafts relating to the creation of the GATT. In the course of our research, we have accumulated many intellectual debts that we wish to acknowledge. We are grateful to Lance Liebman and Elena A. Cappella of the ALI for their support of this project. We are indebted to Todd Feldman at ALI for expert editorial assistance. Judith M. Cole and Sandrine Forgeron at ALI helped to organize a meeting at the Columbia Law School on November 8, 2007, in which we were able to receive valuable feedback on our work.