Agricultural Trade Issues among Pacific Ocean Countries: Discussion

Abstract

Expanded international trade has become a new national priority for the United States. Agricultural trade is the national success story of this decade. And trade in grain and oilseed products is drawing world leaders closer together. These are among the messages that Hathaway; McCalla, Schmitz, and Storey have brought us in their formal papers. World agricultural trade is a growth story. While our speakers have described it in very low key, almost academic terms, it certainly can be described in far more exciting terms. The growth in both quantity and dollar terms exceeds what analysts have a right to expect, given the inelastic demand for food, the role of food in the national security of nations, and the protectionistic attitude of world leaders toward agricultural markets since World War II.