This is a Chinese translation of the February 7, 2018 version of UVA-GEM-0153.

This note provides a few basic facts about the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO). We also investigate why we need those institutions from an economic perspective. In other words, we seek to understand what problems the GATT/WTO solve, and why without them the trade liberalizations that they seek would not emerge.