The Cairns Group was the most unusual, cohesive and effective coalition of countries ever seen in multilateral trade negotiations. Throughout the Uruguay Round it acted as a ‘conscience’ for the agriculture negotiations and fought to prevent the United States from giving in to the Europeans as it had done in the Tokyo and Kennedy Rounds, putting off agriculture trade reform in exchange for concessions on industrial products. The story of the role of the Cairns Group in Australia's political economy – as a domestic ‘palliative’ to the rural crisis – has been told elsewhere. There are also several good accounts of the emergence of the Cairns Group as the ‘third force’ in the early stages of the agriculture negotiations. Rather than duplicating these efforts, this chapter focuses on key aspects of the story that are less well-known: the difficult and sometimes fraught dynamics within the Cairns Group itself; Australia's multi-faceted leadership role in the group; the internecine battles within the Australian bureaucracy for policy positions and approaches to reform; and finally, Australia's role as an intermediary between the United States and the EC as it tried to promote constructive engagement between the majors during highly conflictual and hostile negotiations.

Cairns Group Dynamics

At the beginning of the Uruguay Round, the Cairns Group was still a fairly loose and informal coalition rather than a tightly knit third force.