The agriculture issue dates back to the formation of the WTO, successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which did not feature agriculture as an issue. With the establishment of the WTO, agriculture was for the first time subjected to multilateral trade rules. Distortions regarding agriculture have come about especially where the United States and the European Union are concerned. These distortions created in international trade are caused by domestic protection and government subsidies in favour of US and EU producers. This is to the detriment of efficient developing country producers. The US and EU subsidises to approximately $300 billion per year and developing countries are unable to do this.