GEOG 1000 Lecture 24: What is Fair Trade?
6 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
GEOG 1000
January 15 2018
Fair Trade
Can you change the world through what you buy?
NAFTA (1993)
● “NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere”
International Trade Benefits
● We get inexpensive goods year round
● Workers and farmers in poorer countries get income
● Comparative advantage creates efficiencies
○ Goods produced where they can be produced most cheaply and most
efficiently
○ Better for the environment to produce in a country with the least
environmental impact (cannot grow coffee efficiently in Canada)
● Economic Integration = less war (Europe integrating their economies in the EU)
○ More trade we have, more likely to have peace
○ Putting up trade barriers during the depression caused WW2
○ Trade becomes a weapon through embargoes and sanctions
○ Countries that are more trade dependant are less likely to go to war
International Trade Problems
● Undercut jobs and livelihoods
○ Production leaving to be outsourced to poorer countries, where it is cheaper
to produce
● Pressure to reduce wages, or else
○ Leading to more inequality
○ We have to cut our wages in half or else we’ll have to move production
elsewhere
○ Does have the tendency to push down wages in some sectors and create
inequality
● View from Mexico: Case of Corn
○ Corn was first domesticated in Mexico
○ Corn used for food products and feeding individuals
○ Corn in Canada and the US - made for industry and feeding animals
○ Government gives billions of dollars of subsidies to produce corn
○ Negative environmental impacts from Monsanto chemicals and fertilizers
○ When NAFTA was signed, it required to open its doors to American corn, that
was less than the cost of production, and forced Mexican farmers to stop
farming, unfair due to the subsidies offered by the government
Unfair trade: View from the Global South
● The real cost of the chocolate bar, and how much goes to the cocoa farmer
● Small farmer gets almost nothing for what you pay for it
● The global trade is unfair because we don’t pay enough for the products we consume
Document Summary
Nafta is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere . Workers and farmers in poorer countries get income. Goods produced where they can be produced most cheaply and most efficiently. Better for the environment to produce in a country with the least environmental impact (cannot grow coffee efficiently in canada) Economic integration = less war (europe integrating their economies in the eu) More trade we have, more likely to have peace. Putting up trade barriers during the depression caused ww2. Trade becomes a weapon through embargoes and sanctions. Countries that are more trade dependant are less likely to go to war. Production leaving to be outsourced to poorer countries, where it is cheaper to produce. We have to cut our wages in half or else we"ll have to move production elsewhere. Does have the tendency to push down wages in some sectors and create inequality. Corn used for food products and feeding individuals.
