SPS Agreement Background

WTO: A Historical Perspective

Countries have been engaged in reducing trade barriers associated with the movement of manufactured products since the late 1940s. It began with a small group of industrialized nations which negotiated the first significant trade treaty known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the GATT).

There have been several 'rounds' of trade negotiations which have progressively reduced barriers to the movement of products. However, it was not until the 1980's that the trade community finally agreed to address agricultural trade reform. Agricultural trade had been excluded from previous rounds of negotiations due to the generally held view that domestic food production was a national security concern. Many countries pursued a policy of self-reliance in food production and maintained domestic programs aimed at protecting and supporting their farm sector through the use of high tariffs, restrictive import quotas, and domestic income support programs, including export subsidies.

By the 1980's, the increasing popularity of market-oriented policies, the high cost of maintaining domestic farm programs, and growing frustration with global agricultural trade conditions combined to produce sufficient support for agricultural trade reform.

The opportunity arose for such reform in 1986 when countries initiated a new GATT Round which became known as the Uruguay Round (1986-1994). The Uruguay Round was the most comprehensive GATT round ever conducted, covering new sectors of trade, such as services, and first time negotiations on agricultural trade.