Voluntary Export Restraint

A voluntary export restraint (VER) is a trade restriction on the quantity of a good that an exporting country is allowed to export to another country. This limit is self-imposed by the exporting country. VERs came about in the 1930s and gained a lot of popularity in the 1980s when Japan used one to limit auto exports to the U.S. In 1994, World Trade Organization (WTO) members agreed not to implement any new VERs and to phase out existing ones.