would mean that GATT has been given a shot in the arm, at a much needed time. The most important area of disagreement at Montrealt indeed the subject on which the Uruguay Round was poised to derail, was that of agriculture and the problem of farm subsidies. This was on top of the US agenda and the US insisted that the Montreal meeting agrees to resolve that in the long term all trade-distorting farm subsidies be 'eliminated'. The conference got stuck on words with the EC willing to use the term 'reduced' rather than Eliminated', According to press reports the Roget's Thesaurus was brought in to find an acceptable third word and failure to do so forced the meeting to be extended by a day. At the end of the day it was decided that the mid-term review would be reconvened in April 1989 to find a consensus on all outstanding issues. In the meanwhile the GATT director-general will negotiate with the US, EC and other members to prepare an acceptable document. Until then all agreements in other areas will be put in the freezer to be thawec at the April meeting. As Arthur Dunkell, GATT's director-general, shuttles across the Atlantic through the winter, trying to hammer out a consensus between the EC and the US on farm subsidies (attempting to achieve in four months what was not possible over two years) he will have Shelley on his.mind: "If winter comes, can spring be far behind?" But, will the spring of 1989 see the greening of GATT?
