Discuss. With the end of the Second World War, the United States wanted to give an early boost to trade liberalization and to begin to correct the legacy of protectionist measures, which remained in place from the early 1930s.The combined package of trade rules and tariff concessions became known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), first signed in 1947 and entered into force in January 1948. Drawn up by twenty-three countries, the agreement was designed to provide an international forum that encouraged free trade between member states by regulating and reducing tariffs on traded goods and by providing a common mechanism for resolving trade disputes