Membership in the European Community (EC) for Greece, Spain, and Portugal may reduce trade between the United States and the EC in selected commodities; prospects for a North American Common Market are not bright; and the diversion of agricultural crops from export to fuel alcohol production would very likely increase, rather than reduce, balance-of-payment deficits for the United States and Brazil. The first meeting of the Consortium on Trade Research, established by the Economics and Statistics Service's International Economics Division and several universities, focused on and continues to analyze these and other global topics.