The WTO agreements provide more secure and open markets for world trade in industrial products. The proportion of total trade that is subject to bound tariffs will increase from 68 to 87 per cent , mainly as a result of the substantial increase in the level of bindings in developing economies.

Pre- and post-Uruguay Round scope of bindings for industrial products

Country group	Number of lines	Imports $US bn	% of tariff lines bound		% of imports under bound rates
			Pre	Post	Pre	Post
Total	249573	1089.0	43	83	68	87
By country group
Developed economies	86369	737.2	78	99	94	99
Developing economies	163204	352.1	221	73	13	61
Transition economies	18962	34.7	73	98	74	96
By region
North America	14136	325.7	99	100	99	100
Latin America	64136	40.4	38	100	57	100
Western Europe	57851	239.9	79	82	98	98
Central Europe	23565	38.1	63	98	68	97
Africa	21500	18.5	13	65	26	84
Asia	87944	461.4	16	68	32	70

Source: GATT Secretariat 1994

Markets will be more open as a result of the reductions in average tariffs of developed countries, down 40 per cent , developing economies, down 30 per cent , and transition economies, down 30 per cent , with a post-Uruguay Round average tariff of 6.5 per cent on imported industrial products.

Average tariff reductions on industrial products

Country group	Imports2,3	Trade weighted tariff averages1.
		Pre UR	Post UR	Reduction
All participants	US$b	%	%	%
Imports from World	1552.8	9.9	6.5	34
North America	333.5	8.9	5.5	38
Latin America	69.1	9.1	6.1	33
Western Europe	463.1	9.8	6.1	38
Central/East Europe	37.9	7.7	5.7	26
Africa	39.2	3.9	2.7	31
Asia	610.0	11.4	7.8	32

Developed economies	Imports2,3	Trade weighted tariff averages1.
		Pre UR	Post UR	Reduction
Imports from World	1118.4	6.2	3.7	40
North America	262.3	5.1	2.8	45
Latin America	55.7	4.9	3.3	33
Western Europe	362.4	6.4	3.5	45
Central/East Europe	21.3	4.0	2.4	40
Africa	34.1	2.7	2.0	26
Asia	382.6	7.7	4.9	36

Developing economies	Imports 2,3	Trade weighted tariff averages1.
		Pre UR	Post UR	Reduction
Imports from World	399.5	20.5	14.4	30
North America	70.5	23.2	15.7	32
Latin America	13.0	27.6	18.5	33
Western Europe	78.3	25.8	18.3	29
Central/East Europe	8.3	18.4	15.1	18
Africa	5.0	12.3	8.0	35
Asia	224.4	17.8	12.7	29

Transition economies	Imports2,	Trade weighted tariff averages1.
		Pre UR	Post UR	Reduction
Imports from World	34.8	8.6	6.0	30
North America	0.7	8.6	5.5	36
Latin America	0.4	4.2	2.4	43
Western Europe	22.3	9.0	6.2	31
Central/East Europe	8.2	6.4	4.7	27
Africa	0.2	4.1	2.1	49
Asia	3.0	12.4	8.5	31

1 Excluding petroleum
2 Imports of the 44 IDB participants from all origins (excluding intra-EU trade)
3 Covers tariff lines whose tariffs were reduced (excluding ceiling bindings)
Source : GATT Secretariat 1994

Access to Developed country markets

For developed countries, the main features of their market access commitments in industrial products include

• the expansion of bindings to cover 99 per cent of imports
• the expansion of duty-free access from 20 to 45 per cent of industrial product imports from developing countries; and
• the reduction of the trade-weighted average tariff by 40 per cent from the pre- Uruguay Round level of 6.2 per cent to the post-Uruguay Round level of 3.7 per cent .

Tariff reductions of developed countries on industrial products by category

Product category	Import value $US bn		Tariff averages weighted by
	All sources	Developing economies	Imports from all sources			Imports from developing economies
			Pre-UR	PostUR	% cut	Pre-UR	PostUR	% cut
All industrial products	736.9	169.7	6.3	3.8	40	6.8	4.3	37
Fish & fish products	18.5	10.6	6.1	4.5	26	6.6	4.8	27
Wood, pulp, paper & furniture	40.6	11.5	3.5	1.1	69	4.6	1.7	63
Textiles & clothing	66.4	33.2	15.5	12.1	22	14.6	11.3	23
Leather, rubber, footwear	31.7	12.2	8.9	7.3	18	8.1	6.6	19
Metals	69.4	24.4	3.7	1.4	62	2.7	0.9	67
Chemicals & photographic supplies	61.0	8.2	6.7	3.7	45	7.2	3.8	47
Transport equipment	96.3	7.6	7.5	5.8	23	3.8	3.1	18
Non-electric machinery	118.1	9.8	4.8	1.9	60	4.7	1.6	66
Electric machinery	86.0	19.2	6.6	3.5	47	6.3	3.3	48
Mineral products & precious stones	73.0	22.2	2.3	1.1	52	2.6	0.8	69
Manufactured articles n.e.s.	76.1	10.9	5.5	2.4	56	6.5	3.1	52
Industrial tropical products	32.8	14.4	4.2	2.0	52	4.2	1.9	55
Natural resource-based products	80.2	33.4	3.2	2.1	34	4.0	2.7	33

All industrial products - excluding petroleum products
Natural resource-based products - excluding petroleum products
Source: GATT Sec 3/10/94 : GATT Secretariat Table 3

Developed countries will reduce tariffs by substantially above-average amounts - 60 per cent or more - in three categories

• wood, pulp, paper and furniture
• metals
• non-electrical machinery

Above-average tariff reductions apply to product categories accounting for slightly less than one-half of total developing country exports to developed markets.

Developed countries will reduce tariffs by less than the 40 per cent overall reduction in four categories which continue to be regarded as 'sensitive'

• fish and fish products
• textiles and clothing
• leather, rubber, footwear
• transport equipment.

Because the Uruguay round did not use a 'harmonizing' formula for tariff cuts - as happened in the Tokyo Round of negotiations - these product categories represent tariff 'peaks' in the schedules of developed countries.

Overall, the reduction in the average tariff on imports of industrial products from developing countries is 37 per cent . However this figure almost certainly understates the final liberalization outcomes for non-primary products.

The following is a quick summary of access for developing countries to goods markets in developed countries. The WTO framework for trade in some of these products groups is examined in more depth in other topics. See the topics on Agriculture and on Textiles and Clothing, in particular.

Food and agricultural commodities

The Agreement on Agriculture will transform all access barriers in to bound tariffs which must be reduced by an average of 36 per cent (24 per cent by developing countries) by 2001. Where restrictions are tariffied, members must secure current access levels and offer minimum access opportunities equal to 3 to 5 per cent of domestic consumption. See the topic on the Agriculture Agreement.

Textiles and Clothing

Market access liberalization will take place by 2005 as part of the phase-out of quantitative restraints (or quotas) applied under the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA). The quotas will be replaced by tariffs, which are to be progressively reduced.

The MFA covered about 50 per cent of global exports of textiles and clothing accounting for about 9 per cent of world trade in manufactured goods - some $177 billion. It had 44 signatories, comprising the dominant traders in textiles and clothing, and was replaced by the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing.

More detail is available in the topic on the Textiles Agreement.

Timber and wood products

On a trade-weighted basis, almost 90 per cent of exports to the United States, the EU and Japan in this product category, which includes logs, lumber and furniture, will now qualify for duty free treatment on an MFN basis, as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations.

Fish and products

Developing countries in all regions of the world have a substantial interest in fish and fish product exports. Overall, there has been some improvement in export opportunities for these products in the United States and Japanese markets, and relatively little change in conditions of access to the EU market.

As a result of the Uruguay Round, a large share of United States imports - 87.5 per cent - will now enter duty-free.

In the EU, on the other hand, a relatively small share - 6.9 per cent - will receive duty free treatment; almost 18 per cent of imports of fish and fish products will still be at duties of over 15 per cent .

In Japan, although only 1.9 per cent of imports will enter duty free. 72.6 per cent will enter at tariffs below 5 per cent and the average tariff will fall from 6.1 per cent to 4.0 per cent .

Leather, rubber, footwear

There was modest liberalization of the United States and the EU tariffs on leather, rubber and footwear. The average United States tariff will fall from 7.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent ; over 90 per cent of imports at tariffs below 10 per cent . In the EU, the average tariff will fall from 6.5 per cent to 5.1 per cent - although almost 12 per cent of imports will still be subject to peak tariffs of 15 to 35 per cent .

In contrast, more than 40 per cent of Japan's imports will qualify for duty free treatment.

Metals

There has been a substantial increase in duty free access for product in this category to the United States (59.7 per cent of imports), the European Union (73.7 per cent ), and Japan (84.2 per cent ).

Weighted average duties have fallen from

3.9 per cent to 1.5 per cent for the United States

2.3 per cent to 1.1 per cent for the EU

2.2 per cent to 0.5 per cent for Japan

Minerals, precious stones and metals

Following the completion of the Uruguay Round

60 per cent of United States imports

85 per cent of EU imports

95 per cent of Japanese imports

in this category will be bound duty free at MFN rates.

Tariff and trade profile - industrial products

Developed Economies	Number of Lines	Import Value		% age distribution
				Tariff lines		Imports from all sources		Imports from LDCs
		All sources	LDCs	Pre-UR	Post-UR	Pre-UR	Post-UR	Pre-UR	Post-UR
Total	86,300	736.8	169.7	100	100	100	100	100	100
Duty-free	17,719	149.1	37.2	21	31	20	43	22	45
0.1 - 5.0%	20,814	301.9	57.4	24	24	41	31	34	24
5.1 - 10.0%	19,315	179.5	38.3	22	20	24	15	23	16
10.1 - 25.0%	17,779	85.0	32.8	21	17	12	8	19	13
Over 25%	10,673	56.9	4.0	12	8	3	2	2	2

Source: GATT Secretariat (MTN/TNC/W/122)

Access to Developing country markets

On the basis of the data available for 26 developing countries, the WTO Secretariat has identified the main features of their market access commitments. These include

• the expansion of bindings to cover 61 per cent of imports, compared to the pre-Uruguay Round level of 13 per cent
• a reduction of ceiling rates for tariffs leading to a decline of 30 per cent in the trade-weighted average tariff of developing economies

Tariff Cuts by Sector in Developing Countries on Imports from Industrial Economies

Sector	Trade $US bn	Average Tariff		Tariff cuts
		Pre UR	Post UR
All industrial products (excl. petroleum)	199.8	14.9	10.7	28
Fish & fish products	1.2	20.4	6.6	68
Wood, pulp, paper & furniture	7.8	10.8	7.8	28
Textiles & clothing	8.5	18.7	813.5	28
Leather, rubber, footwear & travel goods	3.9	15.8	10.8	32
Metals	20.9	16.1	10.9	32
Chemicals & photographic supplies	31.7	16.0	10.6	34
Transport equipment	17.3	20.7	15.3	26
Electric machinery	33.9	14.5	9.6	34
Non-electric machinery	43.2	15.3	11.2	27
Mineral products	13.8	8.5	**6.7	21
Manufactured articles, n.e.s.	17.8	11.5	9.6	17

*Trade-weighted. **This average tariff may be distorted by inadequate raw data.
Source: computed from IDB/GATT/World Bank data basis.