The GATT and Gradualism

This paper shows how the institutional rules imposed on its signatories by the GATT created a strategic incentive for countries to liberalize gradually. Free trade can never be achieved if punishment for deviation from a trade agreement is limited to a 'withdrawal of equivalent concessions.' Trade liberalization must be gradual if, in addition, deviation from an agreement is limited. The paper shows how (sufficiently patient) countries may have an incentive to deviate in a limited way when operating under GATT dispute settlement procedures