ABSTRACT
In the Uruguay Round trade negotiations the two main players were the United States and the European Community (EC). There were other important players, too, e.g. the so-called Cairns Group of agricultural exporters under the leadership of Australia, and of course Japan. But despite having become a major industrial power in the preceding two decades, Japan did not play a decisive role in the negotiations and this was mainly owing to its agricultural policy. Agriculture played a crucial role in the negotiations as the US was not prepared to accept an end-result without new more market-oriented rules and commitments on agricultural trade. From the very beginning this put the EC and Japan onto the defensive. However, whereas the EC succeeded by reforming its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to reach an understanding with the US and the Cairns Group on new rules for agricultural trade, Japan was unable to take an active part in the shaping of these new rules. Because of the political power of Japanese farmers Japan was in the end confined to negotiating a special treatment of its paramount agricultural product: rice.
