National Treatment Principle
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
The national treatment principle, one of the two non-discrimination pillars of the WTO, holds that once foreign products, services, or investors have entered the domestic market they must receive treatment no less favorable than that given to domestic like products. Its purpose is to stop domestic rules from serving as disguised exclusion, and it usually stands beside the most-favored-nation principle.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Level the post-entry field: apply one single standard to foreign and domestic alike - Hunt hidden discrimination: check technical rules and taxes for their exclusionary effect - Separate the two phases: distinguish pre-entry market access from all post-entry obligations
Anchor fast decisions
Tariffs are visible and get negotiated down, so protection migrates into domestic regulation, where technical rules and taxes can exclude foreigners without ever naming them. Requiring identical treatment after entry removes the incentive to write rules that discriminate in effect, and the permitted exceptions are negotiated and listed rather than improvised at the border.
MINIMUM ACTION
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Source support: Explicit
- wiki.mbalib.comhttps://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E6%B0%91%E5%BE%85%E9%81%87%E5%8E%9F%E5%88%99verified
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