WTO accession and China's agricultural trade policies

Abstract

Accession to the WTO will be a critical turning point for agricultural trade policies in China. Trade policies will become much more transparent, and will be subject to strong disciplines as a result of the tariff bindings and the commitments on rules included in the agreement. While WTO rules will allow continued use of state trading, subject to constraints on the protection it can provide, there appears to be a very strong need to reform these arrangements to better serve China’s economic interests. China has strong incentives to use the WTO to improve its market access opportunities for its agricultural exports, which face much higher barriers than its exports of industrial products. Thanks are due to Albert Nyberg for helpful discussions. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the author only. They do not necessarily reflect those of the World Bank. WTO Accession and China’s Agricultural Trade Policies Agricultural trade issues have frequently occupied center stage in the longrunning saga of China’s accession to the WTO. Many of the most divisive and difficult issues have involved agriculture, and accession will require a number of changes in China’s agricultural policies. In the long term, however, it seems likely that these changes