Contribution No.5 to the debate on FREE TRADE:
Thoughts on Free Trade
In e-mail dated 23rd February 2001 Mrs. Margaret Harrington,
Fareham, Hants, UK, wrote:
Here are some thoughts on Free Trade.
We need to clarify what we mean by Free Trade and everyone else
means by the term.
The Department of Trade and Industry define Free Trade as
meaning open or transparent trade between countries, where the participants
know what subsidies and tariffs are in place!
Most Georgist accept that genuine Free Trade has to be
accompanied by some regulation. Take,
for example, the farming Industry.
Farmers in the UK have to adhere to higher welfare standards than many
other countries. The proper care of
animals and their environment is quite labour intensive which drives up costs,
so that it can be cheaper to import animal products from abroad. Live animals are also exported to be reared
and slaughtered in conditions that would be illegal over here. I happen to believe that this trade should
be banned, and we should only allow in food that has been produced to our
standards. However, others may think that this would be protectionism. For years the NGO’s have been campaigning
for a ban on the export of live animals and, although the industry is distorted
by subsidies, the reason given by the Ministry of Agriculture for not complying
with this request was the statement that “Free Trade is a fundamental principal
of the Treaty of Rome” As the country is shaken by the effects of an outbreak
of Foot and Mouth disease, caused by imported meat and spread by the export of
living animals, we should bear it in mind that what is generally understood to
be “Free Trade” could get the blame for the disaster.
This term has lost its original meaning and should either be
dropped or called some thing else. Although true Free Trade is not possible
without transferring taxation from earnings on to Land Values, it would be a
pity to lose the concept, so we do need to think of another name.
The best name that I can think of is “Just Trade” – the word
Just relates to Justice and is unlikely to be as misunderstood as the term we
use at present.
Can anyone think of a better term than “Just Trade”?
Margaret Harrington
P.S.
Fair or Ethical trade are the other terms we might be inclined
to use. However these words have
definite meanings to Non Governmental Organizations. Oxfam describes Ethical Trade as “corporate/commercial
organisations holding ethical values as central to the values of their
organisation”. Free Trade is described
as going beyond ethical trade, building a “supply chain and market with the
express purpose of impacting on poverty”
I mentioned these alternatives because someone had suggested
that the word “Fair” should be
substituted for “Free” when describing
the trade we are advocating. The
important thing is to gain support for the change that you suggest.
M.H.
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The reader's comments are very welcome. Please send a letter to the
International Georgist Union, 212 Piccadilly, W1J 9HG, United Kingdom, or
e-mail to iu@interunion.org.uk
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