WTO/GATT Resources

The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established in 1994 under the umbrella of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) during the Uruguay Rounds, a multi-year round of negotiations (1986-94) dedicated to addressing a crisis of the declining General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of 1947 (“GATT 1947”). The outcome of the Uruguay Rounds was the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Agreement, and a newer GATT (known as “GATT 1994”). 

The WTO is made up of three principal organs, the Ministerial Conference, the General Council, and the Secretariat. The WTO Agreement also provides for a Dispute Settlement Body that has settled over 350 cases to date, as well as a Trade Policy Review. For more general information on the WTO, click here. For the GATT, click here.

The purpose of this research guide is to identify resources for locating materials concerning the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Materials include dispute settlement reports, treaties and agreements, trade policy reviews, committee reports, negotiations, books, journals, databases, and websites.

One of the first places to consider starting is with the library's catalog, JACOB. The catalog search engine provides all kinds of filters and search features to find exactly what you're looking for. Start with the Advanced Search feature:

And then choose applicable terms and words to search by.  You can also filter by subject, title, author, etc. If you need to filter by time frame, language, or format, look to the right-hand corner. It's important to know where you're searching too:

• JACOB means print materials (mostly books) held in the library's collection.

• JACOB+ means print materials AND articles held in the library's collection.

• Course Reserves are simply books held on reserve a professors' request for their courses.

• WRLC is the Washington Research Library Consortium that consists of about 13 local libraries (we have a speedy lending agreement among this group of institutions). Search here for your broadest reach.

Search by Library of Congress Call Number Range:

JACOB has a filter for searching for items this way.

This is the Call Number range for the topic of the World Trade Organization and GATT:

• HF1371 - HF1386.2
• K3943 - K3947
• K4600 - K4640

​Search by Library of Congress Subject Headings:

You can also search by the following subject headings. Just type any of these into the search bar and filter to "Subject" OR click on one of the below: 

• Dumping (International Trade)
• Foreign trade regulation
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1947 October 30)
• International economic relations
• International trade
• World Trade Organization