The Outcomes of Tariff Negotiations in the Agriculture Sector – The Progress of Binding Non-Ad Valorem Tariffs during 2001 to 2022

On 24th January 2022, the Chair of AOA announced the need to maintain the good momentum of negotiations and make the best use of the extra time before the next Ministerial Conference begins. In this paper, we examine some of the so-called ‘good momentums’ and the manner these good momentums are adopted by some members of the WTO. We attempt to trace the market access issue and the role of developed countries in successfully steering this process in their favour. The developed group is being seen as successfully calling the shots at the WTO by pushing forward the liberalisation of the agricultural sector by initiating a fresh round of talks based on the November 2021 draft text. While there is a substantial number of implementational and pending issues from 2001 Ministerial and beyond to be resolved, all of these have helped a few countries to keep the agricultural sector under a protected umbrella. While the case may different under the non-preferential trade – as they carry the age-old tag of being steered by the dominant partner[s]. The case of preferential trade (MFN) seems different, and it is here that the pending issues matter and the application of non-ad valorem tariff and the conversion of these NAVs to ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) are at the core of bringing a balance in agricultural negotiations at the multilateral level (MFN)