Agriculture, Developing Countries, And The World Trade Organization Millennium Round

Abstract

The potential welfare gains from further liberalizing agricultural markets are huge, both absolutely and relative to gains from liberalizing textiles or other manufacturing, according to GTAP modeling results. Should attempts to liberalize farm trade in the next WTO round follow the same pattern as the Uruguay Round, or might a more radical approach be required to bring agriculture more into the WTO mainstream? The present paper explores this question from the viewpoint of developing countries by focusing especially on the Uruguay Round's dirty tariffication and adoption of tariff rate quotas. It also examines new agricultural issues, notably one on the demand side (food safety) and one on the supply side (agriculture's so-called multifunctionality), both of which have important implications for developing countries' trade. Options facing developing countries are explored in the final section, where it is suggest the new millennium round offers an opportunity for those countries to be pro-active and take the high ground in demanding faster reform of both farm and textile trade in return for their own opening up.