wikipedia | The International Trade Organization (ITO) was the proposed name for an international institution for the regulation of trade.
Led by the United States in collaboration with allies, the effort to form the organization from 1945 to 1948, with the successful passing of the Havana Charter, eventually failed due to lack of approval by the US Congress. Until the creation of the World Trade Organization in 1994, international trade was managed through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944, which established an international institution for monetary policy, recognized the need for a comparable international institution for trade to complement the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.[1]
Bretton Woods was attended by representatives of finance ministries and
not by representatives of trade ministries, the proposed reason why a
trade agreement was not negotiated at that time.[2]
In early December 1945, the United States invited its war-time allies to enter into negotiations to conclude a multilateral agreement for the reciprocal reduction of tariffs on trade in goods. In July 1945, the US Congress had granted President Harry S. Truman the authority to negotiate and conclude such an agreement. At the proposal of the United States, the United Nations Economic and Social Committee adopted a resolution, in February 1946, calling for a conference to draft a charter for an International Trade Organization.
A Preparatory Committee was established in February 1946, and met
for the first time in London in October 1946 to work on the charter of
an international organization for trade; the work was continued from
April to November 1947.[3]
