Now, GATT as an international agency no longer exists. It has been replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO). GATT was ad hoc and provisional. The General Agreement was never ratified in members' parliaments and contained no provisions for the creation of an organization. The WTO and its agreements are permanent international organization with a sound legal basis. Its members ratified the WTO agreements, and the agreements themselves describe how the WTO is to function.

One primary difference between GATT and the WTO is the types of trade covered by the agreements. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade always dealt with trade in goods and has been amended and incorporated into the new WTO agreements. In addition to the updated GATT, the WTO also incorporates the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Now, regardless of the product, the WTO is the sole organization that operates under a single set of rules with a single system for resolving disputes.

The WTO agreements include five principles that are the foundation of the multilateral (global or near-global) trading system.

The original GATT did apply to agricultural trade but contained many loopholes that allowed trade to become highly distorted. Trade is distorted if prices are higher or lower than normal and if quantities produced, bought, and sold are also higher or lower than normal. Many countries used non-tariff trade barriers such as import quotas and highly subsidized agricultural products.

For example, import barriers and domestic subsidies can raise crop prices on a country's internal market. The higher prices can encourage over-production. If the surplus is to be sold on world markets, where prices are lower, then export subsidies have to be paid. When some countries subsidize and others do not, the result can be that the subsidizing countries are producing considerably more than they normally would.

Governments support and protect their farmers to make sure enough food is produced to meet the country's needs, to shield farmers from the effects of the weather and swings in world prices, and to preserve rural society. However, these policies have often been expensive and have encouraged gluts leading to export subsidy wars. Producers in countries with less money for subsidies have suffered.

The new rules for market access in agricultural products is "tariffs only". The Uruguay Round agreement reduced tariffs on agricultural products an average of 36% for developed countries and 24% for developing countries. The agreement also ensured that quantities imported before the agreement took effect could continue to be imported and guaranteed that higher quantities of some products were charged tariffs that were not prohibitive. A system of tariff-quotas was developed to help achieve this. In this system, imports up to a certain limit are charged one tariff rate, usually fairly low (in-quota quantities). Any imports over the quota limit are charged a different, usually higher tariff rate (out-of-quota quantities). Usually the quota limit is based on actual imports in the base period or an agreed "minimum access" formula.

Imports entering under the tariff-quota (up to 1,000 tons) are charged 10% tariffs. Imports entering outside the tariff-quota (over 1,000 tons) are charged 80% tariffs.

Governments have some safeguards they can take to prevent swiftly falling prices or surges in imports from hurting their local farmers. But the Agriculture Agreement specifies when and how those emergency actions can be introduced. For example, they can not be used on imports within a tariff-quota.

The agreement also distinguishes between support programs that stimulate production directly and programs that have no direct effect. Measures with minimal impact on trade can be used freely. These include government services such as research, disease control, infrastructure, and food security. It also includes payments made directly to farmers that do not stimulate production, such as certain forms of direct income support, assistance to help farmers restructure agriculture, and direct payments under environmental and regional assistance programs. Other payments allowed include certain direct payments to farmers where farmers are required to limit production, certain government assistance program to encourage agriculture and rural development in developing countries, and other support on a small scale (5 - 10% of total value of product supported).

The Agriculture Agreement prohibits export subsidies on agricultural products unless the subsidies are specified and "bound" in the members' lists of commitments. The agreement requires WTO members to cut both the amount of money spent on export subsidies and the quantities of exports that receive subsidies.

A separate agreement on food safety and animal and plant health standards (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures) allows countries to set their own scientific standards and regulations. They should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal, or plant life or health and should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail. This will, hopefully, ensure that strict health and safety regulations are not being used as an excuse for protecting domestic producers.