1 Fear that the U.S. government will go it alone in world trade is discouraging other countries from joining in an accord that could cut spending on farmers by tens of billions of dollars every year, according to a report published by the International Monetary Fund.
2 Fund experts see a possibility that James M. Baker III, designated as secretary of state by President-elect Bush, will single out favored countries as trading partners instead of promoting U.S. trade with the whole world.
3 The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, whose members include the governments of the major industrial countries, says farm subsidies cost consumers and taxpayers $185 billion a year between 1984 and 1986.
4 The biggest costs are in the United States, western Europe and Japan.
5 The IMF report cites a speech last year by Baker, then secretary of the treasury.
6 Baker spoke of what the U.S. government would do if there were a failure of the trade talks now being held by representatives of 96 countries.
7 'We might be willing to explore a `market liberalization club' approach, through mini-lateral arrangements or a series of bilateral agreements,' Bush was quoted as saying.
8 Bilateral agreements are like the new one between the United States and Canada, freeing up trade between two countries but tending to freeze out others.
9 A similar deal with Israel was made earlier last year.
10 A 'mini-lateral' arrangement includes not just two but a group of countries, like the 12 in the European Economic Community.
11 Groups of this kind encourage trade among members at the expense of those outside the club.
12 The report was written before last month's meeting in Montreal of representatives from the 96 governments.
13 They agreed on how to negotiate 11 different kinds of trade issues in the remaining two years of talks.
14 But they failed to agree on four others, including agriculture.
15 U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter insisted that other governments, especially the Europeans, promise to join in a long-term phase-out of subsidies before he would talk about cutting them in the immediate future.
16 Bush has picked Yeutter as his secretary of agriculture.
17 On Thursday Alan Holmer, Yeutter's deputy as trade representative, said he was optimistic about agreement being reached on farm issues by April, a new deadline set at Montreal.
18 But negotiations are being soured by a fight between the European community and the Reagan administration over the hormones that U.S. farmers use to make their cattle grow faster.
19 Last Sunday the community, which tries to keep its own farmers from using hormones, banned imports of U.S. beef and veal worth over $100 million a year.
20 The Reagan administration retaliated with increases of 100 percent in import duties on such items as Danish hams and sun-dried tomatoes from Italy, a measure designed to make them too expensive for Americans to want to buy.
21 The Europeans are threatening a counter-reprisal and U.S. officials say they have a list ready should that happen.
22 A truce is in effect at least until Jan. 23, when ministers of foreign affairs from the 12 countries are due to meet in Brussels.
23 Bush will have been inaugurated three days earlier and the new administration may have some ideas for getting the talks back on the rails.
24 Yeutter is to be replaced as trade representative by Carla Hills.
25 The report published by the International Monetary Fund is called 'Issues and Developments in International Trade Policy.'
26 It was written by a team under Margaret Kelly, an Australian who heads the fund's Trade and Payments Division.
27 The fund is owned by 151 countries, with the United States holding the biggest block of votes.

Fear that the U . S . government will go it alone in world trade is discouraging other countries from joining in an accord that could cut spending on farmers by tens of billions of dollars every year , according to a report published by the International Monetary Fund .
accord
What is the name of the accord?