Regional Trading Arrangements and the Multilateral Trading System

Following up a 2003 publication by the Trade Committee, this paper examines the treatment of agriculture in regional trading arrangements (RTAs) against the background of treatment under the multilateral trading system (MTS). This paper describes 18 RTAs and its findings may not be generalizeable to the 169 RTAs that have been notified to the WTO. The relationship between the treatment of agriculture in RTAs and that within the MTS is complex. This paper contains illustrates the topography of agricultural treatment within RTAs under four separate headings including: coverage, domestic support, contingency protection and sanitary and phytosanitary regulations. This descriptive analysis is prepared both as a basis for assessing progress on agriculture in RTAs and as frame of reference for considering the treatment of agriculture at the multilateral level.