Regulation of Agricultural Trade and Its Implications in the Reform of the CAP. The Continental Products Case Study

The evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been conditioned by a number of factors. Among them is the so-called external aspect of the CAP on which this work focuses, being the main objective to analyze the relationship between the evolution of the CAP and the negotiations leading to the liberalization of international agricultural trade, which were held within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the same way, we also consider the consequences for European agricultural foreign trade derived from the commitments assumed by the European Union (EU) in those two negotiating forums. To achieve these objectives, this research proposes two working lines: first, a literature review for better understanding how international agricultural trade has been regulated since the end of the Second World War to the present, and second, a research effort to know the possible implications that said regulation have had for the evolution of European agricultural foreign trade. In this latter case, the issue is addressed through an empirical analysis using two of the main specialized statistical databases in international trade: EUROSTAT and COMTRADE. The results of the research show that, as the changes introduced by the CAP reforms have been consolidated (based on the trade commitments assumed by the EU), there has been a gradual decrease in the share of European exports in the international markets for continental products.