VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP) allows switches to share VLAN information across the network. VTP maintains consistency by propagating VLAN changes from one switch to other switches in the same VTP management domain. Trunk links connect switches and support multiple VLANs by tagging frames with 802.1Q encapsulation or Cisco's ISL protocol. This allows VLAN traffic to traverse the trunk between switches while maintaining separation of packets for different VLANs.