Agricultural Liberalization in Multilateral and Regional Trade Negotiations

Agriculture is a strategic issue for the Western Hemispheric countries for both regional and multilateral trade negotiations. However, because of their diversity, countries in the region sometimes pursue different or even conflicting objectives regarding the liberalization of agricultural trade. This work provides an overview of the forces in favor of and against agricultural trade negotiations. It also measures the level of tariff protection and subsidies according to different methods and introduces new indicators to evaluate tariff protection in bilateral and regional trade agreements. Finally, it displays a list of the most sensitive agricultural products in the Western Hemisphere based on the type of trade barriers they face and provides policymakers with specific recommendations.