Data Sets
" "  
Search ERS

 
Publications

Print this page Print | E-mail this link E-mail | Bookmark & Share Bookmark/share | Translate this page Translate | Text only Text only | resize text smallresize text mediumresize text large

A Short History of U.S. Agricultural Trade Negotiations

By Jane M. Porter and Douglas E. Bowers

Staff report No. (AGES8923) 28 pp, August 1989

The U.S. proposal to eliminate domestic farm subsidies worldwide, presented to the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations in 1987, is a significant break with past policies. Trade liberalization has been a U.S. goal since the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act of 1934, but, until recently, the United States and many other nations have acted to preserve their own farm subsidies. In the 1980s, slower growth in international farm trade, the threat of trade wars, and higher subsidy costs have led to a reassessment of domestic as well as export subsidies and have created a climate favorable to eliminating subsidies.

Keywords: GATT, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, trade liberalization, foreign trade, farm subsidies, ERS, USDA

In this report ...

Chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

Updated date: August 1, 1989

For more information, contact: webadmin@ers.usda.gov

Web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov