AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Tsenolo Leche, for the Master of Science degree in Agribusiness Economics, presented on October 29, 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: AGRICULTURAL TRADE: PROSPECTS FOR LIBERALIZATION AFTER URUGUAY AND DOHA ROUNDS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Wanki Moon Chapter 1 outlines the goal of the project by evaluating the prospects for agricultural trade liberalization by analyzing the progress and setbacks of the Uruguay and Doha Rounds. The international trade framework is analyzed with consideration of standard trade theory, agricultural protectionism, agricultural trade liberalization efforts and assessment of the prospects for liberalizing agricultural trade in the future. Chapter 2 deals with two issues of standard trade theory: economic rationales for trade and efforts to liberalize trade in industrial goods after World War II. Evidence suggests free trade is a stimulus for growth and development. Empirical evidence suggests liberalization of trade increases economic growth, decreases poverty, increases productivity and increases technology transfer. Global efforts to liberalize trade in industrial goods after World War II are summarized. Efforts to liberalize trade in industrial goods started in 1947 with the formation of the General Agreement of Tariff and Trade (GATT), a multilateral body. Subsequently, the chapter briefly discusses the GATT's accomplishments through its various rounds of multilateral trade talks. It also looks into other channels that the international community pursued to liberalize trade such as regional trade liberalization, one-way trade to developing countries and unilateral trade liberalization. Chapter 3 examines the history of agricultural protectionism in general and in developed countries. Furthermore, it explains theories behind agricultural protectionism. It identifies instruments countries used to protect their agricultural sector before the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) and in the post-Uruguay period. Chapter 4 examines efforts to liberalize agricultural trade beginning with the Uruguay Round, and including the GATT multilateral trade talks that brought agriculture under the discipline. It examines the commitments and limitations of the round in agriculture trade liberalization under three pillars of trade namely market access, export competition and domestic support. Subsequently, ongoing Doha Development Agenda Rounds are analyzed. Further, it examines the July 2004 framework and proposals from member countries for advancing agricultural trade liberalization. Chapter 5 measures the influence of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the U.S.'s Farm Bills on multilateral agricultural trade liberalization negotiations and their influence on the agricultural policies of both the European Union and the U.S. The impact of multifunctionality of agriculture on multilateral agricultural trade liberalization negotiations is discussed. Finally, the chapter focuses on the various perspectives by examining the roles of developing countries in the evolution of the Doha Development Agenda. Chapter 6 assesses the prospects for agricultural trade liberalization by examining agricultural trade following World War II, the WTO's Uruguay and Doha Rounds and the impact of four members of the WTO on international trade. Chapter 7 concludes that agricultural trade liberalization after the Uruguay and Doha Rounds is not likely to be as free as industrial trade liberalization because of some unique characteristics of agriculture. Based on both the Uruguay and Doha Rounds, the main goal seems to be reduction of trade-distorting domestic supports, improvement of market access and phasing out and eventual elimination of export subsidies.

Magister Legum - LLM

Desde a criação da OMC em 1995, países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento intensificaram a busca por uma ação coordenada mais efetiva e, principalmente durante a Rodada Doha, passaram a influenciar o processo de tomada de decisão por meio da criação de coalizões internacionais. A atuação paradigmática do Brasil no processo de formação e atuação do G20 fez com que o país se tornasse um eminente player nas negociações agrícolas da Rodada de Desenvolvimento de Doha e entrasse de maneira definitiva no alto nível decisório da Organização. Dessa forma, o objetivo deste trabalho é explorar o debate relacionado à atuação das coalizões internacionais, bem como identificar os elementos que constituem a liderança política nesse modo de ação coletiva, sobretudo no que se relaciona ao caso da atuação do Brasil no G20 durante as negociações da Rodada Doha da OMC. / Since the creation of the WTO in 1995, developed and developing countries intensified the demand for a more effective and coordinated action, especially during the Doha Round, and began to influence the decision making process through the creation of international coalitions. The paradigmatic role of Brazil in the formation and performance of the G20 has rendered the country a prominent position in the agricultural negotiations of the Doha Development Round. Thus, the objective of this paper is to explore the debate related to the performance of international coalitions, and to identify the elements that constitute the political leadership in this mode of collective action, especially with regard to the case of Brazil\'s role in G20 during negotiations of the WTO Doha Round.

O texto discute a evolução do esforço do setor privado do agronegócio brasileiro na defesa de sua agenda de abertura de mercados externos. O foco é em especial no período entre a Rodada Uruguai (1986-1994) do Acordo Geral de Tarifas e Comércio (Gatt) e na Rodada Doha (desde 2001) da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC). O objetivo é analisar de que forma o aumento da competitividade internacional desse setor, nas últimas décadas, contribuiu para o interesse dos empresários em elaborar uma agenda de demandas ofensivas. Busca-se ainda indicar como esse interesse se traduziu em ações coletivas. A ação coletiva pode ser entendida como a ação de indivíduos, ou de apenas um, interessados em obter um bem coletivo. Esse bem tem caráter primordialmente de partilhabilidade (seu uso por um indivíduo não diminui a quantidade para outros indivíduos) e de não exclusão, com todos do grupo tendo direito de usufruir dele. O caminho para se obter o bem é basicamente por meio de organizações. Entidades que representam empresas da agroindústria são aqui objetos de estudo. A análise ocorre sobre dois tipos de entidades: as de caráter geral, que representam diferentes segmentos do agronegócio, e as de caráter específico, que defendem interesses de um segmento. Devido à forte competitividade do agronegócio brasileiro, é sobre a ação de atores ofensivos que se concentra a discussão. A pesquisa indica que após a reestruturação do agronegócio no final dos anos 80 e nos anos 90, com o fim do pesado intervencionismo estatal e com a liberalização comercial do país, parte da agroindústria enfrentou o desafio de se modernizar e de abrir mercados externos. O que se assistiu foi a diversificação da pauta de exportação e o crescimento contínuo das vendas ao exterior. Tal aumento de vendas e diversificação adicionou atores ao grupo de interessados na abertura de mercados internacionais, inclusive por meio de redução de barreiras protecionistas aos produtos brasileiros. O país envolveu-se nos últimos anos em negociações internacionais com a meta de redução dessas barreiras. De uma participação incipiente e pouco organizada para a negociação da Rodada Uruguai, o setor privado caminhou em direção a um preparo técnico maior de conhecimento das barreiras enfrentadas e das soluções possíveis para eliminá-las, de forma a atuar com mais organização nas negociações dos anos 90 e das deste século, como a Rodada Doha. Este estudo aponta que essa atuação se deu por meio de ações coletivas organizadas pelas associações de segmentos da agroindústria, as quais, na percepção dos empresários, têm sido o principal canal de articulação de interesses, quando comparadas a entidades de caráter geral, como a Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil (CNA), órgão oficial de representação. Isso indica que grupos menores têm maior capacidade de mobilização do que grupos grandes. Mas há uma heterogeneidade dentro dessas associações de segmentos, com sócios de diferentes tamanhos, interesses e recursos. Os membros mais interessados no bem coletivo e com mais recursos formam uma massa crítica que parece ajudar a compreender a atuação desses grupos menores / This research discusses the evolution of the efforts made by the private sector of the Brazilian agribusiness to defend its agenda of liberalization of international markets. It is especially focused on the period between the Uruguay Round (1986-1994) of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (Gatt) and on the Doha Round (since 2001) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The aim of this research is to analyse how the increase in the international competitiveness of the Brazilian agribusiness in the last few decades has affected the private sector interest in elaborating an offensive agenda. In addition, it is our purpose to indicate how this interest has generated collective actions by the private sector. Collective action can be understood as the action by a group of individuals, or just one individual, who are interested in reaching a collective good. The characteristics of this collective good are primarily the jointness of supply, meaning that an individual who has access to that good will not diminish the amount available to another individual, and non-excludibility, meaning that all the individuals of the group will have access to that good. Organizations are the mainly way to reach the collective goods. Associations that represent agribusiness firms are the objects of study in this research. The analysis will be made on two types of associations: those that represent different segments of the agribusiness and those that represent one segment of the agribusiness. Due to the strong competitiveness of the Brazilian agribusiness, the discussion will be concentrated on the actions taken by the players with an agenda demanding higher trade liberalization. This study indicates that after the restructure of the agribusiness in the late 80s and in the 90s, with the end of the heavy state intervention in the sector and the trade liberalization of the country, part of the agribusiness faced the challenge of modernisation and looked for new markets abroad. The result was a diversification of the products exported and the continuous expansion of the exports. Such diversification and increase in the exports added new players to the group formed by those interested in the liberalization of international markets, including the reduction of protectionist barriers against Brazilian products. In the last few years Brazil has participated in a number of international trade negotiations with the aim to put pressure on the reduction of those barriers. From an incipient organization to participate in the Uruguay Round, the private sector headed for a higher technical understanding of the international obstacles to its products and the possible solutions to open more markets. This resulted in it being also better organized to defend its agenda in the negotiations occurred during the 90s and the beginning of this century, such as the Doha Round. One of the conclusions of this study is that the private sector movement was made by collective actions organized by those associations representative of specific segments of the agribusiness, which are seen by the private sector as the main channel to articulate their interests, when compared to associations that represent different segments of the agribusiness, such as the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brasil (CNA), the official representative of the sector. This indicates that small groups are more successful in mobilizing a collective action than large groups. However, there is an heterogeneity inside those associations that represent one specific segment, with members of different sizes, different interests and different resources. The members more interested in the collective good and with more resources to provide it form a critical mass that seems to better explain the movements of the small groups

O texto discute a evolução do esforço do setor privado do agronegócio brasileiro na defesa de sua agenda de abertura de mercados externos. O foco é em especial no período entre a Rodada Uruguai (1986-1994) do Acordo Geral de Tarifas e Comércio (Gatt) e na Rodada Doha (desde 2001) da Organização Mundial do Comércio (OMC). O objetivo é analisar de que forma o aumento da competitividade internacional desse setor, nas últimas décadas, contribuiu para o interesse dos empresários em elaborar uma agenda de demandas ofensivas. Busca-se ainda indicar como esse interesse se traduziu em ações coletivas. A ação coletiva pode ser entendida como a ação de indivíduos, ou de apenas um, interessados em obter um bem coletivo. Esse bem tem caráter primordialmente de partilhabilidade (seu uso por um indivíduo não diminui a quantidade para outros indivíduos) e de não exclusão, com todos do grupo tendo direito de usufruir dele. O caminho para se obter o bem é basicamente por meio de organizações. Entidades que representam empresas da agroindústria são aqui objetos de estudo. A análise ocorre sobre dois tipos de entidades: as de caráter geral, que representam diferentes segmentos do agronegócio, e as de caráter específico, que defendem interesses de um segmento. Devido à forte competitividade do agronegócio brasileiro, é sobre a ação de atores ofensivos que se concentra a discussão. A pesquisa indica que após a reestruturação do agronegócio no final dos anos 80 e nos anos 90, com o fim do pesado intervencionismo estatal e com a liberalização comercial do país, parte da agroindústria enfrentou o desafio de se modernizar e de abrir mercados externos. O que se assistiu foi a diversificação da pauta de exportação e o crescimento contínuo das vendas ao exterior. Tal aumento de vendas e diversificação adicionou atores ao grupo de interessados na abertura de mercados internacionais, inclusive por meio de redução de barreiras protecionistas aos produtos brasileiros. O país envolveu-se nos últimos anos em negociações internacionais com a meta de redução dessas barreiras. De uma participação incipiente e pouco organizada para a negociação da Rodada Uruguai, o setor privado caminhou em direção a um preparo técnico maior de conhecimento das barreiras enfrentadas e das soluções possíveis para eliminá-las, de forma a atuar com mais organização nas negociações dos anos 90 e das deste século, como a Rodada Doha. Este estudo aponta que essa atuação se deu por meio de ações coletivas organizadas pelas associações de segmentos da agroindústria, as quais, na percepção dos empresários, têm sido o principal canal de articulação de interesses, quando comparadas a entidades de caráter geral, como a Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil (CNA), órgão oficial de representação. Isso indica que grupos menores têm maior capacidade de mobilização do que grupos grandes. Mas há uma heterogeneidade dentro dessas associações de segmentos, com sócios de diferentes tamanhos, interesses e recursos. Os membros mais interessados no bem coletivo e com mais recursos formam uma massa crítica que parece ajudar a compreender a atuação desses grupos menores / This research discusses the evolution of the efforts made by the private sector of the Brazilian agribusiness to defend its agenda of liberalization of international markets. It is especially focused on the period between the Uruguay Round (1986-1994) of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (Gatt) and on the Doha Round (since 2001) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The aim of this research is to analyse how the increase in the international competitiveness of the Brazilian agribusiness in the last few decades has affected the private sector interest in elaborating an offensive agenda. In addition, it is our purpose to indicate how this interest has generated collective actions by the private sector. Collective action can be understood as the action by a group of individuals, or just one individual, who are interested in reaching a collective good. The characteristics of this collective good are primarily the jointness of supply, meaning that an individual who has access to that good will not diminish the amount available to another individual, and non-excludibility, meaning that all the individuals of the group will have access to that good. Organizations are the mainly way to reach the collective goods. Associations that represent agribusiness firms are the objects of study in this research. The analysis will be made on two types of associations: those that represent different segments of the agribusiness and those that represent one segment of the agribusiness. Due to the strong competitiveness of the Brazilian agribusiness, the discussion will be concentrated on the actions taken by the players with an agenda demanding higher trade liberalization. This study indicates that after the restructure of the agribusiness in the late 80s and in the 90s, with the end of the heavy state intervention in the sector and the trade liberalization of the country, part of the agribusiness faced the challenge of modernisation and looked for new markets abroad. The result was a diversification of the products exported and the continuous expansion of the exports. Such diversification and increase in the exports added new players to the group formed by those interested in the liberalization of international markets, including the reduction of protectionist barriers against Brazilian products. In the last few years Brazil has participated in a number of international trade negotiations with the aim to put pressure on the reduction of those barriers. From an incipient organization to participate in the Uruguay Round, the private sector headed for a higher technical understanding of the international obstacles to its products and the possible solutions to open more markets. This resulted in it being also better organized to defend its agenda in the negotiations occurred during the 90s and the beginning of this century, such as the Doha Round. One of the conclusions of this study is that the private sector movement was made by collective actions organized by those associations representative of specific segments of the agribusiness, which are seen by the private sector as the main channel to articulate their interests, when compared to associations that represent different segments of the agribusiness, such as the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brasil (CNA), the official representative of the sector. This indicates that small groups are more successful in mobilizing a collective action than large groups. However, there is an heterogeneity inside those associations that represent one specific segment, with members of different sizes, different interests and different resources. The members more interested in the collective good and with more resources to provide it form a critical mass that seems to better explain the movements of the small groups

Desde a criação da OMC em 1995, países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento intensificaram a busca por uma ação coordenada mais efetiva e, principalmente durante a Rodada Doha, passaram a influenciar o processo de tomada de decisão por meio da criação de coalizões internacionais. A atuação paradigmática do Brasil no processo de formação e atuação do G20 fez com que o país se tornasse um eminente player nas negociações agrícolas da Rodada de Desenvolvimento de Doha e entrasse de maneira definitiva no alto nível decisório da Organização. Dessa forma, o objetivo deste trabalho é explorar o debate relacionado à atuação das coalizões internacionais, bem como identificar os elementos que constituem a liderança política nesse modo de ação coletiva, sobretudo no que se relaciona ao caso da atuação do Brasil no G20 durante as negociações da Rodada Doha da OMC. / Since the creation of the WTO in 1995, developed and developing countries intensified the demand for a more effective and coordinated action, especially during the Doha Round, and began to influence the decision making process through the creation of international coalitions. The paradigmatic role of Brazil in the formation and performance of the G20 has rendered the country a prominent position in the agricultural negotiations of the Doha Development Round. Thus, the objective of this paper is to explore the debate related to the performance of international coalitions, and to identify the elements that constitute the political leadership in this mode of collective action, especially with regard to the case of Brazil\'s role in G20 during negotiations of the WTO Doha Round.

The agricultural negotiations in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA) are calling for a specific Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) for developing countries that will protect agricultural producers from import surges or price declines, and could potentially add stability to domestic markets. While most of the parameters of this SSM have been decided upon, the DDA negotiations faltered on the issue of whether or not developing nations should be allowed to exceed their pre-Doha bound tariff rates when invoking the SSM. For developing countries, tariffs on agricultural products are an important policy tool to support domestic prices and protect their smallholder producers from global market shifts. Tariffs, however, distort world prices and create global welfare losses. The purpose of this thesis is to assess the impacts of the SSM on global prices and welfare using a non-spatial, synthetic, stochastic, global, partial equilibrium model of the world soybean market. The SSM is assessed in concert with the currently proposed DDA tariff cutting formulas since the additional duties allowed under the SSM are proportional to prevailing bound tariff levels. This study asserts that the SSM actually decreases global price and welfare stability, decreasing world prices of the commodities on which an SSM is placed, though positively affects tariff revenues for those particular commodities. While the SSM may offer a short-term solution for developing countries, its long-term outlook as a price stabilization tool is a not credible argument. / Master of Science

À l'Organisation Mondiale du Commerce (OMC), le Cycle de Doha pour le Développement, lancé en 2001, achoppe sur le volet agricole, en particulier sur le dossier coton. La thèse vise à analyser, catégoriser et évaluer les impacts des positions dans les négociations en cours du Cycle de Doha pour le Développement, émanant des États membres de l'OMC, des organisations non gouvernementales, des universitaires et des institutions internationales. L'originalité de l'évaluation réalisée est accentuée par la prise en compte d'un scénario alternatif qui tient davantage compte du traitement spécial différencié en faveur des pays en développement. Face au scénario de statu quo de l'Accord de l'Uruguay Round, les scénarios actuellement proposés sont ceux du projet de modalités révisé de Falconer de décembre 2008 sans disposition particulière pour le coton, du projet de modalités révisé de Falconer de décembre 2008 avec des dispositions particulières pour le coton (position « C4 »), et des propositions respectives de l'Union Européenne et des États-Unis. Le scénario alternatif que nous proposons intègre l'amélioration de l'accès du coton des pays africains au marché chinois et le renforcement du soutien domestique dans les pays cotonniers d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre. Mais l'originalité de ce scénario additionnel procède de l'affectation des économies réalisées par les pays développés, dans la réduction de leurs soutiens domestiques, pour constituer un fonds de solidarité internationale de soutien à la filière coton des pays en développement. Par souci de comparaison, le scénario de libéralisation totale des échanges est également pris en compte, même s'il relève du domaine purement théorique. Nous avons utilisé le modèle ATPSM (Agricultural Trade Policy Simulation Model) pour mesurer les impacts des sept scénarios en termes de production et d'échanges internationaux. Notre évaluation intègre aussi la mesure de l'équité, en nous appuyant sur l'approche de Stiglitz et Charlton. Nos résultats montrent que le scénario alternatif augmente le prix aux producteurs de coton de 10,8%, mieux que les propositions du C4 (9,0%) et des USA (6,1%). Le scénario alternatif augmente le prix mondial (8,1%) et le volume des exportations de coton (2,3%), certes à un degré moindre que la proposition du C4 mais davantage que celle des États-Unis. Au regard du critère d'équité, le scénario alternatif est aussi favorable que les autres scénarios et mieux que le statu quo de l'Uruguay Round. Le scénario alternatif présente les éléments favorables à un compromis pour conclure le Cycle de Doha, avec des effets bénéfiques pour les pays en développement et l'introduction d'un mécanisme nouveau de solidarité internationale. / Agriculture, especially cotton, causes contention in the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA) since 2001. This study analyses and provides quantitative estimates of the likely economics impacts of various scenarios. We propose an alternative scenario further based on the principle of special and differential treatment provided to developing countries. We consider seven key scenarios in this study: (1) the Uruguay Round agreements, (2) Falconer' negotiation draft, revised in December 2008 but without special measures for cotton, (3) Similar Falconer's draft but including special measures for cotton as proposed by the C4 Group, (4) the European Union position, (5) the United States position, (6) our alternative scenario of agreements and (7) the total liberalization even if ambitious in scope. Our alternative scenario lies on the improvement of the access of African cotton into the Chinese market and on the strengthening of domestic support to cotton production in West and Central Africa. This scenario is original by considering the set up of a new fund for international solidarity through the subsidy savings implemented by developed countries. We use the Agricultural trade Policy Simulation Model (ATPSM) to evaluate the economic effect and the Stiglitz and Charlton theory of equity for equity assessment. The results showed that our alternative scenario increases the world cotton price by 8.1%, the producer price by 10.8% which is higher than the Falconer' negotiation draft with special measures for cotton (9.0%) and the United States position (6.1%). With regard to the equity criteria, our alternative scenario is as attractive as the other scenarios in comparison with the Uruguay Round agreements scenario. The alternative scenario can help to conclude the WTO-Doha Development Agenda. This scenario takes into account some key elements of a compromise between major actors of WTO, and provides provisions for and international fund to help the west and central Africa cotton sectors.

Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The Doha Round of negotiations on the liberalisation of agricultural trade inherited complications from its predecessor - the Uruguay Round (UR). It needs to be noted, as one of the fundamental differences, that agriculture sectors in the developed countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) get support from their governments. In contrast to the situation, in the developing countries, agriculture is taxed to generate government revenue. The subsidies that farmers receive in the developed countries affect farmers globally through world prices (world prices depression). Therefore protection and greater subsidies should be not encouraged. As such, after a long time of preferential treatment, agriculture trade was tabled as a separate issue of negotiations at the UR and resulted to the round to be prolonged. However, one of the achievements of the UR was imposing of bound tariffs on agricultural products and determining tariff equivalence for non-tariff measures. Then, the Doha Round (DR) also known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) which is the first round to place development and focus strongly on agricultural liberalisation as a tool for development. International trade theory supports agricultural liberalisation, as negotiated in the DDA. Therefore, the DDA, in seeking more liberalised agricultural markets, continues a theoretically sound approach, as in the UR. The effects of liberalising agricultural trade in the DDA will differ across countries, whereas some will gain, others may loose, and the same situation is true for different sectors within an economy. The focus of the DDA on agriculture, as a tool of development, links well to the fact that agriculture in the developing countries accounts for a substantial share of their gross domestic products (GDPs) and exports. This situation, therefore, calls for a closer consideration of the possible impact of agricultural liberalisation in South Africa even though agricultural share of GDP is less than 4 percent.

A presente Tese de Doutorado tem como objetivo analisar o comportamento do Brasil nas negociações comerciais multilaterais no sistema GATT/OMC, mediante o estudo do processo decisório doméstico que estruturou a atuação do país nas negociações agrícolas na Rodada Uruguai (1986-1994) e, na Rodada Doha (2001 2008), com foco no entendimento do processo de formulação das posições apresentadas, no Grupo de Cairns e, no G-20, respectivamente. A partir desses dois estudos de caso e da análise comparada do processo decisório, incorporando parte da literatura de Análise de Política Externa, pretendemos analisar, em dois momentos, no mesmo tema, a receptividade da política externa brasileira às pressões domésticas. O trabalho procura suprir certa lacuna da literatura sobre coalizões no sistema GATT/OMC, pois, a maior parte dos estudos tem dificuldade em incluir aspectos que se localizam, no interior dos sistemas decisórios nacionais, enquanto variáveis relevantes que ajudam a entender o comportamento dos países em coalizões. / The objective of this thesis is to analyze Brazilian behavior in multilateral trade negotiations in the GATT/WTO system, through the study of the domestic decision making process that structured the country positions in the agricultural negotiations during the Uruguay Round (1986 1994) and the Doha Round (2001 2008). Our focus is to understand the domestic decision making process that structured the positions presented by Brazil in the Cairns Group and in the G-20, respectively. From these two case studies, the comparative analysis of the decision making process and incorporating the Foreign Policy Analysis literature, we intend to analyze at two different moments on the same issue, the openness of the Brazilian Foreign Policy to domestic pressure. The work seeks to fill the gap in the literature on coalitions in the GATT/WTO since most studies do not include aspects related to the national decision making process as important variables useful to understand countries behavior in coalitions.