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- <text id=92TT2655>
- <title>
- Nov. 30, 1992: Finding Ways to Skin the Grape
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Nov. 30, 1992 Windsor: A House Dividing
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK
- BUSINESS, Page 21
- Finding Ways to Skin the Grape
- </hdr><body>
- <p>A deal on European agriculture should clear the way for GATT
- </p>
- <p> The issue on the table was oilseed production. But what turned
- the tables was the power and the quality of the grape -- from
- California, largely. On Friday, U.S. and E.C. trade
- representatives announced an agreement that reverses Europe's
- previous refusal to reduce oilseed production, which in turn
- should head off a transatlantic trade war. Ultimately at stake:
- a new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which some
- say could generate a trillion dollars in trade over the coming
- decade.
- </p>
- <p> By consenting on oilseeds, the E.C. beat a Dec. 5
- deadline, when U.S. tariffs would have tripled the cost of
- European white wine. Had American white wine not provided such
- a clear market alternative to imports, the stalemate might have
- disintegrated into a costly battle of tariffs. Though French
- President Francois Mitterrand, who must still face his nation's
- angry farmers, may balk at the agreement, U.S. President George
- Bush hailed the accord as a "breakthrough" that would bring a
- "comprehensive, global and balanced agreement" on trade that
- much closer for the 108 nations participating in GATT's Geneva
- negotiations. The Americans have cause to celebrate, perhaps
- with a glass of California Chardonnay.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-