And it was tailor-made for the few middle-income developing countries (such as Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand) that are large agricultural exporters. But the myth of a “development” round, promoted by trade officials and economists who espouse the “bicycle theory” of trade negotiations – the view that the trade regime can remain upright only with continuous progress in liberalization – backfired, because the US and key developing countries found it difficult to liberalize their farm sectors.