However, the GATT does not require all member nations to adopt one common set of tariff levels. Mexico, for example, can have higher tariff levels than does the United States, as long as Mexico applies these tariffs uniformly to imports from all other member states. It does not mean that China will be treated better than any GATT member. But over the last decade, GATT has also had serious problems. While it can issue rulings on trade disputes between member nations, GATT has no enforcement powers.
Some members simply flout the rules and ignore any adverse rulings.
For example, while US merchandise exports grew by a factor of about 20 between 1960 and 1992, receipts from foreign travel to the United States grew nearly 60 times and exports of royalties, license fees and other services grew over 50 times. Finally, the enormous growth of agricultural output in the European Community and subsidized exports of agricultural products by many nations has led to demands that agricultural trade, previously exempt, be brought under GATT auspices. The most recent round of GATT negotiations began in Punte del Este, Uruguay, in 1986. It has dragged on for more than seven contentious years, with deadlines for its completion repeatedly moved ahead. The troublesome issue is agriculture, with the United States and a coalition of non-subsidizing export nations arrayed on one side and the European Community, with France as its most recalcitrant member, on the other.