Report
- +4
Ms. Sandra Polaski, Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreir, Janine Berg, …
{
"authors": [
"Sandra Polaski"
],
"type": "legacyinthemedia",
"centerAffiliationAll": "",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [],
"englishNewsletterAll": "",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "",
"programs": [],
"projects": [],
"regions": [],
"topics": [
"Economy",
"Trade"
]
}
REQUIRED IMAGE
In The Media
In Agricultural Trade Talks, First Do No Harm
Published on Sep 30, 2005
Source: National Academies - Issues in Science and Technology
Trade liberalization can increase poverty in low-income countries if not handled carefully
World trade talks are heating up, with WTO members struggling to make a deal on the main issues of a new trade pact by a ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in December. Of all the thorny issues they face, none has more impact on a potential deal—and the well being of legions of poor, than agriculture.
Why? Because the global chess game of trade negotiations reflects the more fundamental reality of how the world’s population makes a living. In rich countries, most people work in service industries or manufacturing. In poor countries, agriculture is typically the largest employer. In India, for example, farmers make up 60% of the economically active population, while in China the proportion is about 50%. In low-income countries, an average of 68% of the labor force makes a living in agriculture.
Most attention to agriculture has been focused on the current fight between the US and the European Union over who will make the deepest cuts in tariffs and domestic subsidies, with their main concern being the consequences for their own well-off farmers. A secondary issue, to date, has been the desire of some developing countries to export their farm goods to rich country markets. But nearly absent from the debate has been the question of what happens to small, subsistence farmers in their own local markets in developing countries as a result of global trade. In fact, this issue is probably the biggest factor in determining whether the trade talks produce growth and opportunities for the poor in the developing world or instead end up deepening their poverty and further marginalizing those who have least.
Why should the rich world care? Sandra Polaski argues that the US, EU and other wealthy countries have plenty at stake: their own economic self-interest, their need for global stability and security, and the perception of the global public about whether the global trading system is basically decent and fair or not.
In the article, Polaski outlines the issues and interests at stake in a high-risk economic game with no safety net for the poor. She presents a proposal for dealing with subsistence farming in the WTO talks that would defend the most vulnerable households and allow the overall trade talks to proceed.
About the Author
Ms. Sandra Polaski
Former Senior Associate, Director, Trade, Equity and Development Program
Until April 2002, Polaski served as the U.S. Secretary of State’s Special Representative for International Labor Affairs, the senior State Department official dealing with such matters.
- Brazil in the Global Economy: Measuring the Gains From Trade
- One Cheer for Global Trade TalksArticle
Ms. Sandra Polaski
Recent Work
More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- As Rubio Lands in India, the U.S.-India Relationship Is Stronger Than It LooksCommentary
Despite public disputes over trade and immigration, the strategic partnership’s foundations remain sturdy.
Sameer Lalwani
- Taking the Pulse: Does the EU Have a France Problem?Commentary
With its public finances in shambles, the far right polling at 35 percent ahead of the 2027 presidential election, and a growing protest movement, is France’s crisis a threat to the EU’s geopolitical awakening?
Rym Momtaz, ed.
- How Will Trump and Putin’s Diesel Deal Impact Russia and Global Markets?Commentary
Without a ceasefire with Ukraine on attacking each other’s energy infrastructure—to which the Kremlin is unlikely to agree—the diesel agreement between Putin and Trump is largely for show, rather than representing a genuine increase in the volumes of Russian diesel on the global market.
Sergey Vakulenko
- Stalled at the Front, Russia Seeks to Undermine Ukraine’s Economic CapacityCommentary
Russian strikes are weakening the economy sustaining Ukraine’s war effort. Closing the growing funding gap will require more European support and politically contentious reforms in Kyiv.
Balázs Jarábik
- How the EU’s Single Market Could Unlock EnlargementCommentary
Much has been said of the changes Brussels is trying to make to the EU enlargement process. Here’s why gradual integration might—or might not—be the answer.
Dimitar Bechev
