| Unfair trade: Unfair rules in the international trade | |||
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| Why is the international trade so unfair? Which are the main causes of this injustice? There are four principal reasons: tariffs on processed goods, agricultures subsidies on the West, inadequate labour standards in developing countries and controls of patents on medicines and seeds by the World Trade Organization. Tariffs on processed good A row product can be exported to a wealthy country by a poor one with few financial penalties when it crosses the borders into the EU. But as soon as a developing country tries to add value to raw goods prior to export- by processing cocoa into chocolate for instance- the EU slaps on high tariffs. The result is that a Ghanaian chocolate bar becomes far more expensive than one produced in Europe. Agricultures subsidies Agricultural subsides are given to the farmers in the West World. These encourage rich countries to produce surpluses, which are then ‘dumped’ onto world markets, causing prices to collapse. This weakens livelihoods of smallholder farmers in poor countries who are growing the same crops and trying to sell them on the same markets. Labour standard Labour standards in developing countries are different from those in the West. The Transactional companies operating across the world are barely regulated in some parts of the developing world. The governments of developing countries which need inward investments are not likely to impose strict rules to those companies who say they want to set up factories, bringing jobs and increasing local economy. If the transactional companies provide good working conditions and pay right wages, they could be very useful in fighting poverty but the most of the time they do not guaranties these conditions, exploit their employees and fail to respect the local environment, making poverty worse. World Trade Organization rules on patents Poor countries cannot afford the high prices charged for goods that are necessary for life and health, like Anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients. These rules guard the interest of wealthy countries, but take no account of the needs of people in poorer nations. |
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