It is not just U.S. consumers that suffer from
trade protections in the sugar industry—the
foundations of the multilateral trading system
suffer as well. A number of countries point to
the U.S. policy on sugar as a justification for
not lowering their own trade barriers. Given
the number of Latin American nations
involved in the production of sugar, U.S. sugar
policy will likely make it difficult to successfully
conclude a free-trade agreement of the
Americas (FTAA), which would establish the
entire western hemisphere as a free-trade zone.
U.S. sugar policy will also complicate efforts to
launch a new round of global trade talks
through the World Trade Organization.