By Alex McCalla

There is a very strong consensus among economists that developing countries have the most to gain from movements towards freer trade under the WTO. First, developing countries do have much to gain from general trade liberalization. Second, agricultural trade liberalization offers even greater gains than liberalization in other sectors because of the heavy dominance of agriculture in poor countries’ economies. Third, not all developing countries are poor, food-deficit, importing countries. An open-economy development strategy has historically paid off for developing countries and is still the best bet for the future.

Developing countries want several things from the WTO. First, a fair, open, transparent, and rules-based international trading environment they can trust. Second, access to rich countries’ markets, as well as those of each other, so that they have an opportunity to experience trade-led growth. Third, protection against bullying by large countries or large firms. Fourth, poor developing countries desperately want agricultural trade liberalization in the WTO and an effective end to the Multi-Fiber Agreement.
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