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A special safeguard mechanism for agricultural imports and the management of reform

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  • Finger, J. Michael

Abstract

The record of traditional safeguard provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization provides useful information about how a special agricultural safeguard might be made effective. The success of existing safeguard or flexibility provisions to sustain long-run liberalization programs stems from their requiring objective, transparent, and participatory decisions on the application of the import restrictions they allow. The proposed special agricultural safeguard expands by arithmetic formula the bounds within which a Member may impose a new import restriction. Analysis reported here suggests that the formulas provide a poor guide for policy, indicating that they would frequently prescribe action that is not needed and fail to prescribe action when it would be appropriate. Analysis of the existing agricultural safeguard, to which the special agricultural safeguard is similar, indicates that it has functioned not as an allowance for occasional response to unusual situations but as an expansion of the limits Members have accepted through tariff bindings. To be useful, the special agricultural safeguard should do more than provide formulas for import restrictions. It should provide for objective and participatory processes that would bring forward relevant information and guide an objective and balanced accounting of the interests at play.

Suggested Citation

  • Finger, J. Michael, 2009. "A special safeguard mechanism for agricultural imports and the management of reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4927, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4927
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Will Martin, 2017. "Agricultural Trade and Food Security," Policy briefs on Economic Trends and Policies 1727, Policy Center for the New South.
    2. Hertel, Thomas W. & Martin, Will & Leister, Amanda M., 2010. "Potential implications of a special safeguard mechanism in the WTO : the case of wheat," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5334, The World Bank.
    3. Countryman, Amanda & Ufer, Danielle, 2016. "Potential Poverty Effects of the Special Safeguard Mechanism: the Case of Wheat," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 236023, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Naranpanawa, Athula & Bandara, Jayathileka S., 2011. "Poverty and Growth Impacts of High Oil Prices: Evidence from Sri Lanka," Conference papers 332139, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Peyton M Ferrier & Amanda M Leister, 2011. "Trigger Points of the Special Safeguard Mechanism," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(4), pages 3211-3220.
    6. Gilbert, John & Oladi, Reza, 2010. "Regional Trade Reform Under SAFTA and Income Distribution in South Asia," Conference papers 331945, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade Policy; Free Trade; Debt Markets; Markets and Market Access; Trade Law;
    All these keywords.

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