Tropical Products under Doha: Balancing Liberalisation and the Avoidance of Preference Erosion
by Christopher Stevens and Jane Kennan
This paper analyses trade in products that one group of WTO members wish to see substantially liberalised under the Doha Development Round and another group wishes to see regulated in a way that minimises preference erosion. It takes as its starting point the products lists prepared by eight Latin American states (for full liberalisation) and by the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group (to avoid preference erosion). Its objective is simple: to identify ways in which the overlap between these two lists (and hence the difference in position of the two groups with respect to tropical products) could be minimised without requiring either party to abandon significant interests.
The analysis has been done very rapidly and, in consequence, has focused only on the most important markets and products. If the results help to brief the negotiators in a positive way they can easily be extended.