With globalization through closer integration of countries and people of the world due to enormous reduction in cost to do cross-boarder business, individuals, corporations and nation states are now involved in international trade more than ever before. The opportunity to do business internationally, has now been extended to even small firms and corporations as the inexorable integration of markets, reduction in transportation and communication cost and the breaking down of artificial barriers to the flow of goods, services, capital and knowledge has enabled farther, faster, deeper and cheaper access to markets around the world.

The flow of trade between countries has increased manifold since the first recognized multilateral trade agreement was signed in 1947, i.e., General Agreement on Tariff and Trade 1947 (GATT 1947) in which member countries agreed to reduce, both, tariff and non-tariff barriers to encourage cross border trade (with the possible ultimate goal of perhaps phasing out such barriers to trade in toto). Countries with policies that allow unrestricted flow of goods and services have multiplied the rewards through producing and trading a variety of products and thus greatly enhancing trade volumes.

However, to ensure that these opportunities are realized in balance, nations admitted that globalization has to be managed and regulated at the international level. The rules to regulate international trade were, therefore, for the first time agreed in 1947 through GATT. However, the arrangement had inherent limitations and the members resorted to further rounds of negotiations. The Uruguay Round, the eight in the series, culminated in the 1994 Marrakech agreements under which the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established which assumed the legal and institutional functions of GATT.