While trade disputes and disruptions have been a fact of life for as long as countries have been trading with each other, the number of disputes has risen dramatically since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. A central feature of the WTO is a dispute settlement mechanism based on clearly defined rules and timetables for settling trade disputes. Agriculture has been the subject of major trade disputes over genetically modified organisms (GMOs), sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations, export subsidies, production subsidies, and alleged cases of dumping.

Concerns about food safety and the health of domestic crops and livestock have led to many trade disruptions in recent years. Well-known examples include cases of mad cow disease in the United States and Canada, and bird flu in Southeast Asia.