"recommending" the free play of market forces "between unequal trading partners would only punish poorer commodity exporters at the same time as it brought advantages to the rich industrial core. Therefore, the agenda should attack the persistent trade imbalance and create the essential external conditions for accelerating the rate of growth including new modalities of participation for developing countries in the trading system" (taken from Prebisch, R., 1964, quoted in Ricupero, R., 20031. This article intends to clarify issues related to the current WTO trade negotiations in the framework of the Agreement on Agriculture. After presenting the general background for trade liberalization and the reason of the current negotiations, the paper introduces the different formulae for tariff reduction that are currently under debate and concludes with some implications for the rural poor sectòr in Asia and Pacific countries.