handbrake2
09-Apr-2003, 17:48
Hi,
I'm from Barbados, which for those of you who don't know is a tiny (166 sq. mile) island of 250,000 people in the eastern Caribbean. I hear the WTO and G7 say how free trade is in everyone's best interest, but I can't see how it could possibly be good for small countries like us.
Let me quote part of the article: "External Economic Pressures and Park Planning: A Case Study from Dominica" from Rollins College.
In the wake of the WTO decision, the Europeans had proposed several compromises that were rejected by Chiquita and United States. According to the New York Times, "Chiquita pushed Washington to respond aggressively and backed its demands with substantial contributions to both political parties from its chief executive, Carl H. Lindner" (De Palma 2001b). Finally, in April of 2001, the impasse was broken when the Europeans agreed to import more bananas from Latin America. The new accord uses a complex formula that should help Chiquita regain the forty-percent share of the banana market it enjoyed prior to 1993 (Cooper 2001). Ironically, Chiquita already has the largest share of the European banana market (Lavery 2001). In 1998, Chiquita supplied 25 percent of European bananas while the entire Windward Islands Group accounted for only 6 percent (Ferguson 1998).
Although banana exports from the eastern Caribbean represent only a minor fraction of Europe's supply, the banana industry is of primary importance to the economic stability of the Windward Islands. For example, in Dominica, bananas account for more than half of all export earnings and 36 percent of the national labor force (Godfrey 1998). The negotiated increase in Chiquita's share of the European market will certainly come at the expense of small producers in the eastern Caribbean. According to Paul Reillo of the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (a conservation group working closely with government in Dominica), the anticipated loss of banana subsidies may catalyze a significant decline in agricultural revenues for the entire eastern Caribbean (Reillo 2001). Thus, decisions made far from the Caribbean are creating an increasingly dire economic landscape in the region. Consequently, protected areas are increasingly exposed to encroachment from subsistence farmers, tourism entrepreneurs, and extractive industries.
It seems that removal of the subsidy does very little to help the US or even Chiquita, but does great harm to countries like mine. Help me to undestand, given this example which I am sure is not unique, how can free trade benefit us? Do we have to content ourselves with being sacrificed for others' economic gain?
Handbrake2.
I'm from Barbados, which for those of you who don't know is a tiny (166 sq. mile) island of 250,000 people in the eastern Caribbean. I hear the WTO and G7 say how free trade is in everyone's best interest, but I can't see how it could possibly be good for small countries like us.
Let me quote part of the article: "External Economic Pressures and Park Planning: A Case Study from Dominica" from Rollins College.
In the wake of the WTO decision, the Europeans had proposed several compromises that were rejected by Chiquita and United States. According to the New York Times, "Chiquita pushed Washington to respond aggressively and backed its demands with substantial contributions to both political parties from its chief executive, Carl H. Lindner" (De Palma 2001b). Finally, in April of 2001, the impasse was broken when the Europeans agreed to import more bananas from Latin America. The new accord uses a complex formula that should help Chiquita regain the forty-percent share of the banana market it enjoyed prior to 1993 (Cooper 2001). Ironically, Chiquita already has the largest share of the European banana market (Lavery 2001). In 1998, Chiquita supplied 25 percent of European bananas while the entire Windward Islands Group accounted for only 6 percent (Ferguson 1998).
Although banana exports from the eastern Caribbean represent only a minor fraction of Europe's supply, the banana industry is of primary importance to the economic stability of the Windward Islands. For example, in Dominica, bananas account for more than half of all export earnings and 36 percent of the national labor force (Godfrey 1998). The negotiated increase in Chiquita's share of the European market will certainly come at the expense of small producers in the eastern Caribbean. According to Paul Reillo of the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (a conservation group working closely with government in Dominica), the anticipated loss of banana subsidies may catalyze a significant decline in agricultural revenues for the entire eastern Caribbean (Reillo 2001). Thus, decisions made far from the Caribbean are creating an increasingly dire economic landscape in the region. Consequently, protected areas are increasingly exposed to encroachment from subsistence farmers, tourism entrepreneurs, and extractive industries.
It seems that removal of the subsidy does very little to help the US or even Chiquita, but does great harm to countries like mine. Help me to undestand, given this example which I am sure is not unique, how can free trade benefit us? Do we have to content ourselves with being sacrificed for others' economic gain?
Handbrake2.