Summary: The Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, conducted from 1986 to 1994 under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), resulted in a variety of "disciplines" intended to liberalize agricultural trade. Such trade in some GATT countries is directed through entities called "state trading enterprises." Some U.S. agricultural producers are concerned that state trading enterprises may operate in ways that bypass these disciplines. This report is one in a series that GAO plans to issue on the nature of state trading in other countries and the treatment of state trading enterprises in GATT and by the new World Trade Organization. GAO discusses (1) GATT members' reporting of state trading enterprise activities from 1990-94, (2) Uruguay Round results contained in GATT 1994 that related to state trading enterprises, (3) Uruguay Round results contained in the Agreement on Agriculture that relate to state trading enterprises, (4) the potential for an increase in state trading enterprises under GATT and the World Trade Organization, and (5) U.S. efforts to monitor the activities of other nations' state trading enterprises with respect to requirements of GATT and the World Trade Organization.
