Steel

In the margins of the Uruguay Round there was a serious attempt to bring about a sectoral agreement on steel, known as the multilateral steel agreement, or MSA. Somewhat in the spirit of the aircraft agreement, it was hoped to address the multiplicity of problems associated with this sector in a balanced and comprehensive manner covering both tariff and non-tariff matters. The prize of free trade in a sector like this, which is an important part of most countries’ trade balances, was an added inducement. This agreement was not concluded, but the negotiations nonetheless led to some results in the tariff field among most of the developed countries. The second section of this chapter gives an account of the negotiation.