Latin American and Caribbean Interests in the WTO

Despite the successful launching of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations in Doha, a wide gap between the priorities of developed and developing countries in the World Trade Organization (WTO) persists. The position of Latin American members tended to converge with that of other developing economies. Latin America made considerable concessions in the Uruguay Round (UR), with many economies binding their tariffs at relatively low levels. Even in the middle of macroeconomic turmoil in the late 1990s, with the successive financial crises in Asia, Russia and Brazil, commitment to liberal trade policies has been on the whole preserved. The liberalization process has, of course, raised severe problems related to the accommodation of conflicting interests. Problems arising out of the political economy of trade are not the monopoly of developed economies. After the very significant reduction of high tariffs entailed by the UR, tariff concessions by developing countries by further lowering their bound tariff levels will severely affect established interests which are favored by protectionist policies. Most of the region’s economies may face problems in adjusting in the mid-term to substantial additional tariff reduction undertakings. To create the political conditions required for further liberalization, Latin American governments need to be able to show to domestic interests that the developed countries are willing to make significant concessions by opening their markets in all sectors.