5 - ‘Rich-Man’s Club’

Summary

At the Havana conference of 1947–1948, development emerged as the top priority of the International Trade Organization (ITO). But the failure to establish the ITO meant that developing countries had to work with GATT to make trade serve development goals. This chapter examines key moments (including rounds of trade negotiations, the establishment of UNCTAD, the opening of the International Trade Centre, the addition of a development chapter to the General Agreement, and the campaign to establish a New International Economic Order) and issues (such as quantitative restrictions, preferential tariffs, textiles) to try to make GATT and trade support developing countries. Clashing conceptions of development, the pursuit of individual priorities, and disagreements and rivalry among developing countries undermined efforts to reform GATT. Although developing countries have been portrayed as ill-suited to GATT, this chapter argues that they were constructive members, sometimes leaders and ultimately champions of GATT and a rules-based trade system. The story of development displaces the Cold War as the dominant framework of postwar international relations, challenges the idea of American hegemony, and reveals how GATT perpetuated a racialized global order.