The Future for Agriculture in the GATT

Abstract

The new era in agricultural trade ushered in by the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture and the establishment of the World Trade Organization is one of tantalizing promise. Much of this promise stems from the fact that an agreement of substance was in the end achieved. Countries at last faced squarely the troublesome set of issues of high agricultural protection and world market disruption. In the end, unlike the agreements of the Kennedy and Tokyo Rounds, negotiators did not blink. Tough decisions were made rather than postponed or fudged. Yet the promise of a liberal, rule-based structure for agriculture remains unfulfilled. The process of fully reforming the trade system for farm products will take many more years, and will try the determination of countries to stay the course. In particular, the high levels of protection which remain in agricultural markets have now been revealed in the form of the newly-bound tariffs.¹ Removing that protection will be a formidable task, but future negotiations can build on the foundations laid in the Uruguay Round.