Analytical issues in the Uruguay round negotiations on agriculture

Abstract

When the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations began under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1986, the United States was engaged with the European Community in a food export subsidy war that helped to push the real international prices of temperate food products down to levels comparable with those experienced in the 1930s. At the end of 1991, nearly six years later, that export subsidy war is still going on, despite all the efforts of Uruguay Round negotiators to reach agreement on reducing agricultural support programs in industrial countries. This difficulty in reaching agreement to reform farm policies is worrying for two reasons. First, without an agricultural agreement it may not be possible to reach agreement on reforms in other areas of the Uruguay Round. And second, there is also the concern that the unilateral reforms recently begun in numerous developing and centrally planned economies will be short-lived unless greater access is provided to rich-country markets for farm products and textiles and clothing.