You may not be aware of this, but the phrase “Fair Trade” has some baggage in the US. “Fair Trade” was the term that labor unions used to justify their support for higher tariffs, tighter quotas, and other measures against international trade. The point that they were making was that the US should not allow goods in from nations such as Japan that did not allow our companies access to their markets. Now as far as I can tell your version of “Fair Trade” does not include pressure for higher tariffs, but some of us Yanks might be confused and put off by the association.
The revelation for me was in relation to a web conversation a couple of years or so back where a USAmerican seemed quite hostile to the idea of fair trade even though it doesn't contradict any of the principles he had articulated until that point in relation to matters of trade and economics. Now I have an idea of what may have been in his head and why, if that is the case, he would have been really dismissive of the idea.
By the way the rest of the posts are useful to read too.
Mustard Seed Associates | MSA Forums: Filed in: USA, fair_trade, justice, fairness
3 comments:
For a recent discussion of this, see my blog post about fair trade.
Warren
Thanks for that Warren. There are some good points hidden among the misunderstandings of your diatribe. Basically it comes down to whether or not you think it's acceptable for economic power to be exercised in such a way that some people have no real way to make ends meet or to get their kids into school.
It sits ill with me, at least, that our cheaper goods are subsidised by the misery of producers working under exploitative conditions. It seems to me that some of what you write over there is apologia for complacent western consumers whose lifestyle is being subsidised by the effective slavery of many under the guise of free markets -which are not really so.
That's not to say, either that there are not issues with FT but it is to say that the problem is being at least faced and not denied.
I actually think you need to do a bit more research a bit more in depth. The dismissive and cavalier argumentation is unworthy of the intellect that you must have.
You might like to check out a New Internationalist comparison of free trade and fair trade.
http://live.newint.org/issue322/facts.htm
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