Against the grain : French and German preference formation on agricultural trade during the GATT Uruguay Round

In Against the Grain, Gerry Alons presents her research on French and German preference formation on agricultural trade liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s. In this process, the French and German governments were confronted with contradictory domestic and international pressure. While the farm lobby in both states fiercely opposed liberalization, the United States and other GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) partners insisted that agricultural trade should be liberalized. During the negotiations within the GATT, France and Germany eventually opposed liberalization. Although these preferences are usually attributed to farm lobby influence, this research shows that French farmers’ influence was not as extensive as it is usually claimed to be and that ideological considerations based on state identity were of considerable importance in both France and Germany. French opposition to trade liberalization can partly be ascribed to the French vocation exportatrice in agriculture, while in Germany the Franco-German friendship was an important consideration in the preference-formation process.