贸易协定(trade agreement)

国家之间关於国际贸易关系的合同协定。国际贸易协定可以是双边或多边的，即可以是两国之间也可以是多国之间的协定。大多数国家在从事国际贸易时会碰到单边的贸易壁垒，这些壁垒包括关税，非关税壁垒或政府明文禁止。国际贸易协定旨在减少这些壁垒，促进各国之间的贸易发展。既然任何签署贸易协定的国家都期望获得更多的收益，互惠便成了贸易协定的基本特徵。最惠国条款是另一普遍特徵，该条款保证参加协定的各方不会赋予其他国家更低的关税（参阅most-favoured-nation treatment）。贸易协定通常包括提供「非关税壁垒的国民待遇」，即有贸易往来的国家承诺不得用非关税壁垒来替代关税手段，比如歧视性壁垒，选择性减税，减少配额或降低特殊许可证要求等。一般的多边贸易协定通常比双边协定更容易达成，因为全球范围的关税减免将使生产商获得更多收益，从而有可能达成更多的相互让步。当今最重要的多边贸易协定是关税暨贸易总协定（GATT）。自从该协定实施以来，全球的关税水平大大降低，极大地促进了全球国际贸易的发展。亦请参阅North American Free Trade Agreement、World Trade Organization。

English version：

trade agreement

Any contractual arrangement between states concerning their trade relations. Trade agreements may be bilateral or multilateral, that is, between two states or more than two. For most countries international trade is regulated by unilateral barriers, including tariffs, nontariff barriers, and government prohibitions. Trade agreements aim to reduce such barriers and thus provide all parties with the benefits of increased trade. Reciprocity is a necessary feature of trade agreements, since neither state will be willing to sign the agreement unless it expects to gain as much as it loses. Another common feature is a most-favored-nation clause, which provides against the possibility that one of the parties to the current agreement will later offer lower tariffs to another country (see most-favored-nation treatment). Agreements often include clauses providing for “national treatment of nontariff restrictions,” meaning that both states promise not to duplicate the properties of tariffs with nontariff restrictions such as discriminatory regulations, selective excise taxes, quotas, and special licensing requirements. General multilateral agreements are sometimes easier to reach than separate bilateral agreements, since the gains to efficient producers from worldwide tariff reductions are large enough to warrant substantial concessions. The most important modern multilateral trade agreement was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which reduced world tariff levels and greatly expanded world trade. See also North American Free Trade Agreement, World Trade Organization.