China formally asked the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to restore its status as a contracting party, starting a long negotiation over how its economy and trade rules would fit into the global system. This step anchored China’s “reform and opening” policies in an international, rules-based trade framework.
GATT contracting parties created a Working Party to examine China’s request and negotiate terms. A Working Party is a member-led group that reviews an applicant’s trade regime and drafts the conditions for entry.
GATT agreed the Working Party’s formal mandate (“terms of reference”) and its membership. This set the ground rules for how China’s application would be evaluated and how negotiations would proceed.
The Working Party held its first formal meeting to begin structured, multi-year talks. From this point, negotiations increasingly focused on practical issues such as tariff levels, import licensing, and transparency of trade rules.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) replaced GATT as the main institution for global trade rules, with broader coverage (including services and intellectual property). China’s earlier GATT process had to be carried forward in the new WTO framework.
China’s WTO application was received and its accession Working Party was established under WTO procedures, transforming the earlier GATT-era effort into a WTO accession negotiation. This shift mattered because WTO membership required commitments across a wider range of trade rules than GATT alone.
WTO members confirmed the Working Party’s terms of reference and membership under the WTO system. This helped organize the next stage of negotiations, including detailed questioning of China’s laws, regulations, and market access policies.
China and the United States signed a bilateral agreement covering market access in goods, agriculture, and services. Because major trading partners must be satisfied on market access, this agreement removed a key obstacle and pushed the overall accession process toward completion.
China and the European Union concluded their bilateral market-access agreement, another major step because the EU was one of China’s largest trading partners. With the U.S. and EU deals in place, the remaining work centered on final bilateral agreements and finishing the accession legal text.
China and Mexico reached an agreement that completed China’s bilateral market-access negotiations with WTO members. This cleared the way for the accession Working Party to finalize the full “package” of documents for China’s entry.
The WTO announced that negotiations on China’s terms of membership were successfully concluded at the Working Party meeting. The Working Party agreed to forward the extensive legal texts for formal approval at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha.
WTO members formally approved China’s accession package at the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar. This was the decisive political step that authorized China’s entry under agreed rights and obligations.
China signed the WTO accession agreement and deposited its instrument of ratification with the WTO Director-General. Under WTO rules, this started the final countdown to membership taking effect 30 days later.
China’s WTO membership took effect, marking the end of a 15-year negotiation that began with its GATT application in 1986. Membership committed China to WTO disciplines (such as tariff bindings and transparency rules) and gave it access to WTO rights, including the dispute settlement system.
China's WTO Accession (1986–2001)