Comparing EU free trade agreements: agriculture
2004
R. Simons
Free trade agreements between the European Union (EU) and its respective trading partners reinforce the Uruguay Round process on a bilateral basis. This paper compares EU free trade agreements, discussing their economic consequences particularly for developing countries.Main points of the paper include:trade in agricultural products is far from being completely liberalisedthe EU and its trading partners retain many tariff barriers concerning market accessagricultural parts of the EU’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA) contend with the conflict of trade liberalisation on the one hand, and national interests to limit market access on the other handthe analysis of the different EU FTAs shows that the EU excludes important products from the targeted free tradethe EU's domestic protection and support pattern for certain agricultural products can be identified as a key factor determining these exceptionsfor those products that are excluded from liberalisation, the EU grants important concessions by admitting market access within the limits of tariff rate quotasEU agriculture the agreements with South Africa, Mexico and Chile cover a wider range of issues and products, especially those connected to trade of wine and spirits.[adapted from author]
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