Tariff Reform: Some Pre-strategic Considerations

We consider the implications of improving on GATT/WTO tariff negotiations both the most-favoured-nation (MFN) clause and the twin Paretian rules (that negotiations leave the trading world on its efficiency locus and each participating country in a preferred position). It is shown that the set of tariff reforms that satisfy both rules (a) is always non-empty, (b) might include no reforms that end in world-wide free trade, (c) always includes reforms that are incompatible with free trade and (d) might include reforms that support a Pareto-optimal and Pareto-improving allocation but also support other allocations with neither of those characteristics.