TRADE DISCRIMINATION - YESTERDAYS PROBLEM

Existing tariff levels of many countries, and particularly of developi ng countries and on agriculture for most countries, still give plenty of scope for trade discrimination. For non-tariff barriers there is su bstantial scope for discrimination within and beyond the transitional arrangements of the Uruguay Round Agreements, as well as under free tr ade agreements, customs unions and developing country preferences. Cri teria are suggested which could ensure that preferential trading arran gements would promote rather than undermine the development of a liber al, multilateral trading system: actual preferential arrangements gene rally fall well short of satisfying these criteria. The proliferation of preferential (that is discriminatory) an arrangements suggests ther e is a real possibility that the negative aspects of discrimination co uld be a problem of tomorrow, and not just of yesterday.