ABSTRACT
The 1970s also brought about a change from fixed to floating exchange rates thus radically changing the impact of trade instability on the agricultural sectors of economies. Strategies of grain exporting nations to maintain or increase their relative market shares will dominate East-West agricultural trading relationships during the mid-1980s. The impact on East-West trade of widespread devaluation in debt ridden LDCs would be substantial. A set of specific issues relate primarily to East-West trade but will indirectly affect other nations. The magnitude of change in the agricultural export sector since the early 1980s can be expressed by another means, which provides some additional insights to the woes of American farmers and policy makers. Bilateral trade agreements are strongly opposed by most private trade groups in the United States. Two major western entities, the United States and the European Community, are facing agricultural program budget crises.
