A Dialogue: Trade Liberalization in Agriculture

One of the accomplishments that makes the international community most proud is its progress in developing free trade around the world. The establishment of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) after World War II began the liberalization trend by relaxing barriers on goods. As negotiating sessions proceeded, trade in goods loosened further and other areas also began to open, such as services, intellectual property, and investment measures. Yet, despite all the progress made in breaking down barriers in these areas, those in agricultural markets remained stubbornly high. Why has protection in the agricultural sector persisted? The SAIS Review invited five experts from around the world to participate in a dialogue on agricultural trade liberalization. The participants, Bruce Gardner, Eugenio Díaz-Bonilla, Antônio Salazar P. Brandão, Devinder Sharma, and Alan Swinbank, received an initial statement posing a series of questions about trade in agricultural goods. Each participant then had the opportunity to read and respond to each other's initial statements.