British Perspectives on the GATT Article XXIV Negotiations Following the First EC Enlargement: ‘Probably More Important and More Difficult than the Consideration of the Treaty of Rome Itself’

Abstract

The accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK) to the European Communities (EC) in 1973 triggered negotiations in GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). GATT’s contracting parties were entitled to ask whether the enlarged EC adequately fulfilled the criteria for a Customs Union (CU) that Article XXIV set; and countries whose market access to the acceding states was impaired because of changes to tariff bindings could seek redress. The formal negotiations, following on from President Richard Nixon’s announcement of his New Economic Policy in August 1971, began in March 1972, and concluded in July 1974. The USA—the EC’s main interlocuter—whilst supporting European integration from a political perspective, was highly critical of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the EC’s web of preferential trade agreements. The UK, fearful that disagreement could trigger trade conflict, attempted to mediate between the two, trying to curb US expectations whilst nudging its EC partners to be more generous in their tariff concessions. But, as in the Dillon Round, the EC tenaciously rebuffed criticism whilst defending its right to expand its CU. The CAP emerged more-or-less unscathed.