The ‘Enfant Terrible’: Australia and the Reconstruction of the Multilateral Trade system, 1946–8

In recent years Australia has been recognized as a prominent player in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO). Less well known is Australia’s activism during the establishment of the GATT. This article, based on archival sources and contemporary accounts, examines Australia’s role in the birth of the multilateral trade system. It seeks to nuance the two conventional interpretations of this period, the first which argues that countries joined the GATT because it was in their economic interests to do so, and the second which suggests that the United States hegemony imposed its trade liberalization objectives on less powerful allies and trade partners.