However, without any international agreement that will lock in existing reforms, and continue the trend to lower levels of protection, there remains a risk that if price trends were to reverse, there could be a shift back tow'ards protectionism. Bouet and Laborde (2009) suggest that without an agreement, a shift towards protectionism by countries increasing tariffs to bound rates would be costly in both trade and welfare terms. These costs could be significantly mitigated through the signing of an agreement.