Mainstream WeeklyPost World War II there was no way colonialism could continue, which enabled Western economies to grow by plundering natural resources in other countries. Their leadership realised that free countries will exercise their right and choice to choose their trading partners and what to export and what to import. Quickly, a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was formulated. Western economies that have been built on extraction and externalisation of costs started feeling the pinch of this freedom. Each of them had to negotiate with each of the other countries to whom they wanted to sell their goods, made from minerals and goods imported from other countries. However, this was taxing them, delaying the achievement of their targets and impacting their economy. Thus, the words protectionism and multilateralism began making rounds. Each country which was negotiating the best form of trade relations was branded as protectionist, simply because it did not serve their economic interests. It took almost five decades for the Western economies to realise their goal in the form of World Trade Organisation.
In the 1980s and 1990s, global parleys were dominated by trade talks largely pushed by the United States. There was lot of opposition, cajoling and subtle arm twisting over the text in the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. When the trade talks appeared to be collapsing, a certain Dunkel Draft emerged in 1991. This later resulted in the agreement and emergence of World Trade Organisation. United States was the principal force behind the years of trade talks, WTO and a rule-based system of trade. In the years leading upto the formation of WTO, India was seen as the main obstacle by USA. A declassified CIA document said,