Optional Negotiating Techniques on Industrial Tariffs

Following six rounds of multilateral negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) import duties on industrial goods have been reduced to very low levels.1 In fact, the average level of tariffs on manufactured and semi-manufactured products, weighted by trade between member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), is now 8.3 per cent for the United States, 8.4 per cent for the European Community, 10.2 per cent for the United Kingdom (ignoring Commonwealth preferences) and 10.9 per cent for Japan.2