Agricultural trade liberalization has helped some of the world's poorest countries, but not all have benefited. The changes in welfare depend on how countries trade and manage their economies. While some countries have seen small losses in terms of trade, these losses are usually less than 1% of their total economy. In some cases, policy distortions within a country can have a bigger impact on welfare than changes in trade terms. Removing these distortions could turn small losses into gains. However, many of the least-developed countries that import food did not take advantage of the opportunities for improvement offered by trade liberalization. The most significant gains come from a country's own efforts to open up trade, so those that didn't make changes missed out on potential benefits.