Even before the war was over, major powers convened in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to establish a new international trade and finance regime, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Through a succession of lengthy and difficult global negotiations – the so-called “GATT rounds” – tariffs were steadily lowered for an increasing variety of goods.
甚至在战争还未结束时，各大国便已齐聚新罕布什尔州布雷顿森林讨论建立新的国际贸易和金融制度，其中包括了关贸总协定。通过一系列漫长而艰难的全球谈判——所谓的“关贸总协定诸回合”——越来越多的商品关税被稳步削减。结果，全球贸易在战后大部分时间里以比全球GDP更快的速度增长。