(FORTUNE Magazine) – ''Something there is that doesn't love a wall,'' wrote Robert Frost. Especially if it's a trade wall that costs $70 billion, which is what American import barricades cost consumers in higher prices in 1990, say Gary Hufbauer and Kimberly Elliott of the Institute for International Economics. Over the next decade the recent GATT agreement will reduce that ''tax'' by 47% or more, says Hufbauer -- $32.8 billion a year in 1990 dollars. Of those + savings, $17 billion will come from liberalization of the highly protected textile and apparel industries. Consumers will save another $1.2 billion from reduced agricultural protection. There are still miles to go on the road to free trade -- remaining tariffs will cost an onerous $37.6 billion annually. And everything depends on ratification by all parties. ''I don't regard this as a done deal,'' Hufbauer says. ''But I'm happy GATT is succeeding at all. I'm a pragmatist.'' -- J.A.

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