most-favored-nation clause (MFN), provision in a commercial treaty binding the signatories to extend trading benefits equal to those accorded any third state. The clause ensures equal commercial opportunities, especially concerning import duties and freedom of investment. Generally reciprocal, in the late 19th and early 20th cent. unilateral MFN clauses were imposed on Asian nations by the more powerful Western countries (see Open Door). In the late 20th cent. tariff and trade agreements were negotiated simultaneously by all interested parties through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which ultimately resulted in the World Trade Organization. Such a wide exchange of concessions is intended to promote free trade, although there has been criticism of the principle of equal trading opportunities on the grounds that freer trade benefits the economically strongest countries. GATT members recognized in principle that the MFN rule should be relaxed to accommodate the needs of developing countries, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (est. 1964) has sought to extend preferential treatment to the exports of the developing countries. Another challenge to the MFN principle has been posed by regional trading groups such as the European Union, which have lowered or eliminated tariffs among the members while maintaining tariff walls between member nations and the rest of the world. In the 1990s continued MFN status for China sparked U.S. controversy because of its sales of sensitive military technology and its use of prison labor, and its MFN status was only made permanent in 2000. All of the former Soviet states, including Russia, were granted MFN status in 1992.

Most, Johann Joseph, 1846-1906, German anarchist. A bookbinder by trade, he served as editor of socialist papers in Germany and Austria. His publications were suppressed, and he was frequently imprisoned for his public denunciation of religion, patriotism, and accepted moral standards. After sitting (1874-78) in the German Reichstag, he moved to France and then to England, where he served a 16-month prison term for glorifying the assassination of Russia's Alexander II. He emigrated (1882) to the United States and became a leader in the American anarchist movement. He was imprisoned a number of times for his activities, until he drifted away from anarchist politics.

Most, Ger. Brüx, city (1991 pop. 70,670), NW Czech Republic, in Bohemia, near the German border. It is a railway junction and industrial city in a lignite-mining area. Chemicals, steel, and ceramics are the major products of Most. The city, whose history dates at least to the 11th cent., has several medieval churches and an old town hall. The city was relocated in the 1960s due to an expansion of the coalfields.

Guarantee of same trading opportunities (i.e., tariff concessions) already granted to the most favoured nation (MFN). It is a method of establishing equal trading opportunities among states by making originally bilateral agreements multilateral. Attempts to guarantee equal trading opportunities were incorporated into commercial treaties as far back as the early 17th century. The Anglo-French treaty signed in 1860 became the model for many later trade agreements, establishing a set of interlocking tariff concessions (see tariff) later extended worldwide by most-favoured-nation treatment. MFN treatment has always applied primarily to the duties charged on imports, but specific provisions have extended the principle to other areas of economic contact, including property rights, patents, and copyrights. Seealso General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; reciprocity; World Trade Organization.

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