With Tariffs, Why the Focus On Price and Taxation?

Section XXI of GATT (the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) titled “Security Exceptions” makes it clear that countries have the right to abandon the rules for national security considerations.  While the text is explicit that GATT “cannot prohibit measures which are needed purely for security reasons,” it also cannot allow that “under the guise of security, countries will put on measures which really have a commercial purpose,” protecting any industry.  The WTO (World Trade Organization), GATT’s successor in 1990, adopted Section XXI unchanged.