They would be allowed some amount of market power in exchange for public oversight and an obligation to provide everyone with their services. Corporate consolidation, and with it diminishing competition, is a clear feature of the current economy. Current multilateral trade rules facilitate this phenomenon. Nowhere in the debates on agriculture and trade at the WTO has the very real concentration of market power in commodity markets properly surfaced as an issue for consideration. An appropriate framework for trade in agriculture cannot be developed without this dimension being made explicit.
Many countries have national legislation in place to avoid excessive market power.
It is, as we have seen, an imperfect solution to a very real problem. Now, at the international level, the same issues are emerging. As trade comes to play an increasing role in the sourcing and distribution of goods and services, questions are being raised about how we can protect international competition. Agricultural commodities, particularly food and crops that go into food production such as soy, deserve special attention because food security is a fundamental human right. No multilateral rules should contribute to giving any one entity undue power over a country's ability to source food on the international market.