The chapter describes the attempt to underwrite peace through trade by creating an International Trade Organization (ITO), creating an international contract for rules-based trade under the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), and creating the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Chapter 16 contains a description of the main aspects of the negotiating history of Article XIX and the Agreement on Safeguards. It provides a summary of the main issues of contention during the negotiation of Article XIX of the GATT 1947, and how the proposals ended up in the final version of the provision in the GATT 1947. Chapter 16 also describes the process of negotiation leading to the establishment of the Agreement on Safeguards and the evolution of the different drafts up to the conclusion of the Uruguay Round. The chapter ends with a conclusion from the author on the manner in which the establishment of the safeguard regulatory system evolved.

In this chapter, I trace the negotiating history of the post-war multilateral trading system, from the 1940s to 1995 (i.e. the creation of the WTO), through the lens of poverty narratives. I show how the two main narratives emerged, and how they interacted with each other. I further explain why the narrative that 'won' and achieved dominance for the next several decades was largely unsympathetic to the cause of poverty alleviation, especially when mitigation strategies were discussed in the context of the developing world. I conduct this analysis via three negotiation landmarks, plus a fourth case of decision-making processes. The fifth section of the chapter explores the extent to which the powerlessness of the small and poor extended to other areas of international negotiation as well as other aspects of political and social life.