ABSTRACT
The pursuit of trade liberalization through a regional trading bloc in North America is only one corner of a larger policy picture. US foreign trade objectives are pursued on several levels: unilateral imposition of trade barriers, export restrictions, export enhancements, and reductions of trade barriers. Seven rounds of multilateral trade negotiations—also referred to as General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade rounds—were held prior to the Uruguay Round. All were designed to progressively reduce trade barriers on a global, nondiscriminatory scale, expand the list of trade rules, and facilitate dispute settlement procedures. With negotiations stretching from September 1986 through December 1993, the Uruguay Round was by far the longest trade negotiation in history as well as the one with the greatest number of missed deadlines for completion. The primary reason for this prolonged delay was political: the nonnegotiable demand by the United States for an unprecedented agreement on major reductions in trade barriers on agricultural goods.
