Background 

The Cancún Ministerial, which concluded September 14, 2003, without consensus, was the latest meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Ministerial was intended to continue the negotiations started in the Doha Round of 2001, where WTO members agreed to begin talks to lower tariffs and other barriers to free and fair agricultural trade. Here is some background information about the history of the WTO, the negotiations process, and the Cancún meeting.

The World Trade Organization

• What is the WTO?
• The Doha Round Continues Through Cancún
• The World Trade Organization and Agriculture Fact Sheet (.pdf)
• Glossary of Agriculture and World Trade Organization Terms
• Agriculture Issues in the WTO (Office of the United States Trade Representative
• WTO Briefing Papers from the Economic Research Service-USDA

The Negotiations Process

• The Doha Round Schedule
• The Harbinson Draft
• The United States Position
• The U.S. - E.U. Framework
• The U.S. Comments on the Chairman's Cancun Ministerial Text 

The Cancún Meeting

• What Will be Discussed and Decided?
• Why Cancún?