Incremental changes at the international, regional and national level are gradually flattening the playing field for farm trade

摘要

A slam-dunk came in 1989 when the United States and Canada, already two of the world's largest trading partners, signed an agreement to phase out barriers to goods that cross their 5,482-mile long border. Another huge border was crossed four years later when Mexico joined its two northern neighbors in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As the clock ran out on 1993, 117 countries scored with a pact that culminated seven years of negotiations in the Uaiguay Round of the General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade (GATT).