| | Launched in 1986, the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) Uruguay Round of international trade talks has been dominated by a confrontation between the US and the EC (European Community) over farm policy reform. Both sides proclaim their commitment to devising a GATT regime which will bring an end to the anarchy in world agricultural markets, yet neither is willing to address the underlying cause of the present malaise: structural over-production in their own farm sectors and the resulting accumulation of surpluses. The use of export subsidies to put these surpluses on to world markets caused developing countries severe trade and food security problems in the 1980s; and a Uruguay Round deal is unlikely to bring any relief. What it will do, however, is introduce new regulations which, enshrined in international trade law, will restrict the right of developing countries to manage their own food systems. Most importantly, the use of trade measures to control food imports and price support measures to promote staple food production could be severely constrained, or banned, by a 'farm superpower' GATT agreement. Discusses: Origins of the 1980s farm crisis (Impact on Developing Countries, Impact on Developing Countries: Sub-Saharan Africa); The Uruguay Round (Agriculture and GATT, Implications for the South, Special and Differential Treatment, Food Policy Sovereignty) |
