This book offers an analytic account of multilateral agricultural trade negotiations. In a space of ten chapters it gives the reader a comprehensive account of the major issues involved in trade negotiations and of the major challenges faced by developing countries in getting the most out of such negotiations.
Chapter 1, by the editors, discusses the rationale for agricultural trade reform and the importance of such reform for achieving meaningful progress from ongoing international trade negotiations. In particular, it highlights the structure of world agriculture, the barriers which stand in the way of potential gains from agricultural trade reform, and the design, sequence, and implementation of trade reform at the country level. It prepares the reader well for issues to be discussed in the subsequent chapters.
Chapter 2, by Josling, offers an overview of the WTO agricultural trade negotiations to date. In this connection, it first highlights the Uruguay Round of Negotiations, then evaluates progress in the aftermath of these negotiations and, finally, reviews developments in the Doha Round. Its examination of the rule-based agricultural trade regime, which was put in place following the Uruguay Round of Agreement on Agriculture (URAA), reveals that success in living up to the commitments made under the three pillars of market access, export competition, and domestic support, was limited. It points to the small size of the mandated reduction, relative to the high level of tariff calculated, selected and bound, and to the lack of ambition in and the non-binding nature of commitments to reduce the high level of support to domestic and export trade in agriculture as major hurdles which stood in the way of success. It further points out the limited progress made to date in the Doha Round of negotiations in the light of proposals and options put forward. As such, this chapter sets the agenda for the next two chapters.
Chapter 3, by Sharma, offers a survey of 20 developing country experiences with implementation of the rules and country-specific commitments of the URAA. The most important lesson it draws from this survey is that reductions or total removal of domestic agricultural support and export subsidy would have little direct impact on trade flows from developing countries as most of these countries do not implement such subsidies. However, the chapter points to reductions in domestic protection as being an important source of worry for developing countries as such could depress international food prices. Chapter 4 by Hoekman, Ng and Olarreaga analyses the extent to which removal of subsides on domestic production, primarily by industrial countries, affects developing countries. The major conclusion of this chapter is that such a removal affects different developing countries to different degrees depending on whether the country in question is an importer or an exporter with the latter more likely to benefit from such a removal than the former.
Chapter 5 by Kaukab analyses the evolution of coalitions and alliances that have emerged in the multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO in recent years. The chapter draws particular attention to the increasing influence, on WTO negotiations, of several alliances forged among developing countries and of coalitions formed by Australia, Canada and New Zealand on the one hand and developing countries on the other as a counter weight to the dominant forces presented by the USA and the EU. As such it offers a challenge to the widely held and uncritical view of the developing world as a homogeneous entity.