OPENING GLOBAL MARKETS FOR AGRICULTURE: THE NEXT WTO ROUND

More open international markets benefit the economy as a whole, as well as most U.S. agricultural producers. The Uruguay Round Agreement laid out a useful framework. Specifically addressed here is why the key to further liberalizing agricultural trade is reduction of tariffs as comprehensively and rapidly as politics will allow. Other issues such as export subsidies, tariff-rate quota quantities, and developing-country relationships are also important, especially while tariffs are coming down. Internal support rules have much less potential to liberalize trade. Finally, as the December 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle demonstrated, delay in the negotiation process threatens liberalization.