ABSTRACT
Industrial tariff reduction has been one of the oldest topics of negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and has been given renewed attention under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). The Doha Round, launched in the city of Doha, Qatar in December 2011, covers about 20 topics, including agriculture and industrial goods market access, services, environmental goods and services, food aid, fishery subsidies, and trade facilitation. In terms of Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA), paragraph 16 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration stipulates that the aim of the negotiations shall be
to reduce or as appropriate eliminate tariffs, including the reduction of tariff peaks, high tariffs, and tariff escalation, as well as non-tariff measures, in particular on products of export interest to developing countries. Product coverage shall be comprehensive and without a priori exclusions. The negotiations shall take fully into account the special needs and interests of developing and least-developed country participants, including through less than full reciprocity in reduction commitments …
(WTO 2001)