Trade-distorting practices by other states did not seriously affect U.S. commercial interests until the mid-1960's. However, growing overall and sectoral trade deficits, as well as rapid changes in trading patterns, have made such practices a more salient political issue. The modal and preferred American policy response has been to rely on U.S.supported liberal institutions, notably the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), to provide a framework for multilateral negotiations designed to eliminate

Do We Really Know That the WTO Increases Trade? Comment by Michael Tomz, Judith L. Goldstein and Douglas Rivers. Published in volume 97, issue 5, pages 2005-2018 of American Economic Review, December 2007