Reforming agricultural trade among developing countries

It is commonly perceived that much of the initiative for removal of distortions in trade in agriculture has to come from the developed world. This generalization is not valid across all agricultural products, in particular for tropical products that are predominantly produced in developing countries and constitute a large share of their exports. It emerges that export of most of these products suffers not because of barriers in advanced countries, but from those in the developing world. This implies reciprocal benefits from growth in counter-trade if developing countries agree on more stringent trade liberalization measures for them. Cotton, sugar and bananas are important exceptions; they face trade barriers in some developed economies, so they deserve specific attention of trade negotiators.