The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in United States Domestic Law

This article will undertake a two-step analysis. First, in Part II, the question whether GATT is legally a part of United States domestic law will be examined. Then, assuming GATT is part of this law, Part III will examine the extent of GATT’s domestic law effect and its general relationship to other law, both federal and state. The chosen focus of this article thus excludes treatment of substantive obligations under specific GATT clauses. It also excludes intensive development of the myriad details of the scope of executive authority to negotiate particular trade concessions under legislation such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, especially since the extent of this authority is perhaps more heavily dependent upon executive-congressional political relationships than upon legal notions.