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1. |
Does Free Trade Need a Singapore Facelift? |
| Free Trade is an old idea
undergoing a global facelift. International trade flows amounted to more than
US$5 trillion in 1995. Clearly, the potential of trade to promote or prevent
sustainable development is enormous. This December trade ministers from around
the world met in Singapore to discuss the future of global trade under the new
World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO was established at the end of the
Uruguay Round of trade negotiations in 1994 to replace the temporary General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It is a testament to the influence of
20th Century economics that the idea of Free Trade, or dismantling trade
barriers between nations, has become the aspirin of international economics - it
pervades most discussions of international financial and other policy today.
Free Trade and Sustainable Development may be the two biggest policy trends of
our time, yet the question has rarely been asked, When are Free Trade and SD
compatible and when are they at odds? This is a question that deserves to be
addressed in Singapore. Many believe free trade has the potential to improve the
prosperity of billions of people who live in poverty. Yet without a healthy
system of national and international environmental regimes, unfettered trade
could also cause tremendous harm - for example, by allowing low environmental
standards to be exploited for competitive advantage. Environmental groups are
struggling to suggest ways to restrict imports on products manufactured using
environmentally harmful 'process and production methods' - PPMs in the lingo -
without giving a new excuse for 'green' protectionism, especially against poor
countries. Listen for a rising call for an agreement on PPMs to clearly spell
out how the trading system should deal with unsustain-ably produced goods.
[linking trade to SD]
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PPMs n.process and production methods, as
distinct from product standards. Magnifier effect n.when liberalizing trade multiplies the damaging impacts of weak environmental policy. Eco-imperialism n. when rich countries use trade sanctions to force poor exporters to manufacture products according to importer preferences. |
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International Institute for Sustainable Development. The World Trade
Organization and Sustainable Development: an Independent Assessment.
Winnipeg: IISD, 1996. 65 p. |
NOT HOT - |
Closed Doors at the World Trade Organizaion? |
| As a recent assessment of the WTO's first two years points out (see In
Depth), despite recent signs of hope there is now considerable worry that
the WTO may carry on the traditions of closed decision-making that were the
hallmark of the GATT. "The WTO must shed the habits of a club and become a
global forum for trade policy, including direct dialogue with the
non-governmental community", the report argues. "The WTO should
recognize that its performance will be judged by whether adequate transparency
and participation are achieved, rather than by whether the WTO has done as much
as it believes it can." | |
 Virtual Ideas |
Third World
Network Site on Trade An on-line introduction to Trade and Sustainable Development |
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A new International Centre on Trade and Sustainable
Development (ICTSD) has opened in Geneva. It hopes to contribute to a better
understanding of development and environment concerns in international trade and
serve to give non-governmental organizations a better window on the workings of
the World Trade Organization. |