YEUTTER SEES GATT CONSENSUS ON FARM TRADE REFORM U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter said trade ministers meeting here have reached a general consensus on agricultural trade reform under the latest Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Yeutter gave no precise details of the understanding but told journalists the consensus covers the principles involved in agricultural trade reform and what needs to be done to improve the global situation in agriculture. Delegates from 22 countries are meeting informally to discuss progress made since the latest GATT round was launched in Punta del Este, Uruguay, last September. Yeutter said "at least people seem to be going down the same road...But how that translates ultimately into negotiations is another matter entirely." There seems to be an understanding of the need to deal with the problem quickly and "a more common understanding of how we are going to get from here to there," Yeutter said. However, the hard work is still to come, with a couple of years of tough negotiations ahead, he said. "It is ludicrous for the nations of the world to plough immense amounts of financial resources into the production of items that nobody wants to buy," he said. He said the long-term answer is to switch some of the financial resources now committed to agriculture to other more productive areas. This would help agriculture because some its inefficient non-productive segments would stop operating, he said. Individual segments in many countries may lose in the process, but it should result in a more rational system of world-wide production within 10 or 15 years, he said. It is important that the agriculture negotiations reach a relatively early conclusion because the U.S. Is spending 26 billion dlrs a year and the European Community probably more than that, which is an ineffective use of financial resources, he said. Asked about the prospect of a priority for agriculture in the negotiations, he said "one has to be politically realistic... If there is any chance of getting it (agricultural trade reform) done in two to three years it's going to have to be as part of a larger package."