Multilateral market access negotiations in goods and services

Overall, protection in goods and services now appears modest in developed and developing countries, but there are a number of products where protection remains high and liberalization could bring important benefits to developing countries. In absolute terms the greatest gains for developing countries as a group are likely to come from negotiations to address tariff peaks and escalation in manufactures, but, as a result of the failure of the WTO Ministerial Session in Seattle, these are not part of the current WTO agenda. However, in proportion to their production, agriculture is even more important for a number of developing countries, and agreed negotiations will address tariffs, domestic supports and export subsidies. Other non-tariff barriers affecting trade in goods will be mainly covered in any revision of WTO rules. In services, the mandated market access negotiations will attempt to extend sectoral specific commitments and reduce the scope of MFN exemptions, but negotiations on certain rules and disciplines, including safeguards, subsidies, government procurement of services will also be important. Strategically, it would be preferable to reduce intervention of all forms and across all sectors starting where such intervention is more important, although this requires further work on estimating the effects of non-tariff interventions in goods and services.