History glossary
most-favoured-nation treatment
a treaty principle allowing one foreign power to claim privileges granted to another.
- Category
- Treaty clause
- Region
- Global diplomacy
- Date range
- Nineteenth century
What it means
Most-favoured-nation treatment allowed a foreign power to claim any privilege that China later granted to another power. In nineteenth-century China, this made concessions difficult to contain because one treaty could extend benefits across the wider foreign presence.
