Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What did the Kennedy Round accomplish for tariffs and developing countries?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
World Trade Organization
Workers sewing clothing in a garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City in April, 2025.
The Kennedy Round (1964β1967) was a significant multilateral trade negotiation held under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It continued the long-term process of reducing tariff barriers on industrial goods that had been initiated two decades earlier.21
Regarding its impact, the Kennedy Round achieved the following:
- Tariff Reductions: Building on the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the negotiations facilitated substantial tariff cuts among industrial nations, furthering the global trend of trade liberalization.2
- Developing Countries: While these nations derived little immediate economic advantage from the tariff negotiations themselves, they successfully advocated for the addition of a new section to the GATT charter titled "Trade and Development." This addition established important goals, including:2
- The stabilization of raw material prices.
- The reduction or removal of customs duties that unfairly discriminated between primary products and finished goods.
- The formal renunciation by advanced nations of the principle of reciprocity in their trade relations with less-developed countries.2