Agricultural policies and trade liberalisation.

This chapter starts with an overview of the agricultural policies in the EU, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, focusing on the general policy objectives and the types of instruments applied. It then deals with the quantitative level of agricultural support in the countries concerned, based on measurements by the OECD. In the following section, the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture is summarized and the main constraints applying to agricultural policies are identified. It is expected that these constraints, which refer to market access, export support and domestic support, will also be central elements for the further liberalization of agricultural trade.