ABSTRACT
The Quadrilateral Group of Trade Ministers ('the Quad') was established at the 1981 GROUP OF 7 (G-7) summit. It meets regularly at ministerial level and frequently at official level to discuss multilateral trade issues. It is an informal grouping, with no operational responsibility; its significance, therefore, is comparable to that of the G-7 itself. Participants are the European Commission (which has EUROPEAN UNION (EU) competence for trade policy under Article 113 of the TREATY OF ROME), Canada, Japan and the United States. They are the world's four largest trading entities, a status recognized in the WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO) Trade Policy Review Mechanism, where they are the only members subject to surveillance every two years, rather than every four or more years.
