Liberalizing Trade Between Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract

Despite repeated declarations made by developed country governments of their intention to resist protectionist pressures and to roll back protection in the world trading system, new measures have been introduced to limit imports to the detriment of their own and their trading partners' economies. Also, some large developing countries have responded to external shocks and the subsequent debt crisis by increasing import protection. With this in mind, the object of this paper is to provide support for undertaking a new round of negotiations. The article considers the scope, content and modalities of such negotiations as they would affect developed and developing countries. It further addresses concerns that developing countries have raised about a new round of multilateral trade negotiations and makes recommendations as to how to address these concerns and how to promote institutional changes in support of a global liberalization effort.