Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 ‘The Enfant Terrible’: Australia and the Reconstruction of the Multilateral Trade System
- 2 Coming to Terms with Multilateralism
- 3 Damage Control, Policy Stasis and Diplomatic Paralysis
- 4 Policy Innovation, Diplomatic Departures and the Uruguay Round
- 5 The Cairns Group
- 6 Aggressive Multilateralism: Negotiating Services
- 7 The American Way? Aggressive Bilateralism in Australian Trade Policy
- 8 The WTO System in Crisis
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Departments and Ministers responsible for GATT/WTO Negotiations
- Appendix 2 GATT Trade Runds
- Notes
- Index
5 - The Cairns Group
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 ‘The Enfant Terrible’: Australia and the Reconstruction of the Multilateral Trade System
- 2 Coming to Terms with Multilateralism
- 3 Damage Control, Policy Stasis and Diplomatic Paralysis
- 4 Policy Innovation, Diplomatic Departures and the Uruguay Round
- 5 The Cairns Group
- 6 Aggressive Multilateralism: Negotiating Services
- 7 The American Way? Aggressive Bilateralism in Australian Trade Policy
- 8 The WTO System in Crisis
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Departments and Ministers responsible for GATT/WTO Negotiations
- Appendix 2 GATT Trade Runds
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The Cairns Group was the most unusual, cohesive and effective coalition of countries ever seen in multilateral trade negotiations. Throughout the Uruguay Round it acted as a ‘conscience’ for the agriculture negotiations and fought to prevent the United States from giving in to the Europeans as it had done in the Tokyo and Kennedy Rounds, putting off agriculture trade reform in exchange for concessions on industrial products. The story of the role of the Cairns Group in Australia's political economy – as a domestic ‘palliative’ to the rural crisis – has been told elsewhere. There are also several good accounts of the emergence of the Cairns Group as the ‘third force’ in the early stages of the agriculture negotiations. Rather than duplicating these efforts, this chapter focuses on key aspects of the story that are less well-known: the difficult and sometimes fraught dynamics within the Cairns Group itself; Australia's multi-faceted leadership role in the group; the internecine battles within the Australian bureaucracy for policy positions and approaches to reform; and finally, Australia's role as an intermediary between the United States and the EC as it tried to promote constructive engagement between the majors during highly conflictual and hostile negotiations.
Cairns Group Dynamics
At the beginning of the Uruguay Round, the Cairns Group was still a fairly loose and informal coalition rather than a tightly knit third force.
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- Australia and the Global Trade SystemFrom Havana to Seattle, pp. 118 - 145Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001
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