Trade and Labor Standards: A Strategy for Developing Countries

Polaski, Sandra

Report

Trade and Labor Standards: A Strategy for Developing Countries

Conventional wisdom holds that integrating labor and social issues into international trade regimes will be one of the very hardest trade policy challenges to resolve. Recent developments present a new strategic opportunity for developing countries to link trade with domestic policies that promote poverty alleviation, more equitable income distribution, and better working conditions.

By Ms. Sandra Polaski

Published on Jan 9, 2003

Source: Carnegie

Conventional wisdom holds that integrating labor and social issues into international trade regimes will be one of the very hardest trade policy challenges to resolve. In Trade and Labor Standards: A Strategy for Developing Countries, Sandra Polaski argues, to the contrary, that recent developments present a new strategic opportunity for developing countries to link trade with domestic policies that promote poverty alleviation, more equitable income distribution, and better working conditions. This linkage can generate greater market access for developing countries and at the same time disseminate the benefits of trade liberalization more broadly to their citizens, creating a true win-win outcome.

Full Text in English (PDF)
Full Text in Spanish (PDF)
Full Text in Mandarin (PDF)

About the Author
Sandra Polaski is senior associate in the Trade, Equity, and Development Project at the Carnegie Endowment. She served from 1999–2002 as the Special Representative for International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, the senior official handling labor matters in U.S. foreign policy.

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.

Recent Work

Report
Brazil in the Global Economy: Measuring the Gains From Trade
- +4
  Ms. Sandra Polaski, Joaquim Bento de Souza Ferreir, Janine Berg, …
Article
One Cheer for Global Trade Talks
- Ms. Sandra Polaski

Economy Trade

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Commentary
Emissary
Why Korea’s President Skipped Washington for Silicon Valley and Brasília
Lee’s tour shows how Seoul is reorganizing its diplomacy away from Pyongyang and toward industrial networks and the geography of the compute economy.
Darcie Draudt-Véjares
Commentary
Emissary
The Migration Wave That Embarrassed Morocco and Rattled Europe
Most migrants may have left Ceuta, but the effects may linger.
Alejandro Martin Rodriguez, Sarah Yerkes
Commentary
Carnegie Politika
Russia Is Exporting Its Fuel Crisis to Central Asia
When faced with fuel shortages in the past, Central Asian governments could always count on additional supplies from Moscow. That safety net no longer exists.
Galiya Ibragimova
Commentary
Emissary
Five Years After His Power Grab, Tunisia’s President Has Only Achieved Failure
Saied’s main accomplishment has been to destroy a decade’s worth of democratic progress.
Sarah Yerkes
Commentary
Emissary
The Drone Attack on Egypt and the Widening Middle East War
The targeting of Damietta Port appears to be more than a mere security message.
Amr Hamzawy

Trade and Labor Standards: A Strategy for Developing Countries

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Commentary

Emissary

Why Korea’s President Skipped Washington for Silicon Valley and Brasília

Lee’s tour shows how Seoul is reorganizing its diplomacy away from Pyongyang and toward industrial networks and the geography of the compute economy.

Darcie Draudt-Véjares

People standing on rocks in the ocean near the shore, with soldiers in the foreground

Commentary

Emissary

The Migration Wave That Embarrassed Morocco and Rattled Europe

Most migrants may have left Ceuta, but the effects may linger.

Alejandro Martin Rodriguez, Sarah Yerkes

Commentary

Carnegie Politika

Russia Is Exporting Its Fuel Crisis to Central Asia

When faced with fuel shortages in the past, Central Asian governments could always count on additional supplies from Moscow. That safety net no longer exists.