I want to know if there are any arguements against fair trade and what are they?
Please leave sources as they will help and I believe that paying the workers the right amount to make clothing good etc is fair trade.
2007-01-09 05:08:44 · 8 answers · asked by hotmama 2 in News & Events ➔ Current Events
I have read that because of fair trade some relatively affluent 3rd world countries, such as Mexico are staying in the coffee market and expanding production to make more money. This leaves countries such as Ethiopia worse off, they rely on coffee exports but their business is being taken by Mexico, who don't really need to rely on that. It punishes the poorer countries, who have usually worse quality goods, the more affluent countries have better quality goods, so the countries that really need the money are left out in the cold.
I think that fair trade overall is a good thing, but looking at that, there are some bad points. I'm sure the average worker in the poor countries wouldn't be getting anywhere near our minimum wage and has the same amount of money as any other worker in that country. So in the end, it would be the businesses taking the profits not the workers.
2007-01-09 05:21:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some companies can be very sneaky about fair trade. Was watching a tv programme a while back which found in some cases that if an item was fair trade, it would obviously be more expensive than a non fair trade one, but only the most tiny percentage of the price difference went to the farmers, the rest went to the company who saw it as an opportunity to squeeze money out of a 'brand'. So the fair trade label, although clearly meaning certain standards have been reached, can still sometimes hide unethical practices. Cannot remember the source though i'm afraid!
2007-01-10 13:54:25 · answer #2 · answered by Nikita21 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One argument against the so called fair trade issue is we are told that the people producing the fair trade products should be paid more for their product. Surely this would be inflationary. There does not appear to be any account taken of the economies in the countries where the product is made.
The worker has usually been paid the prevailing wage commensurate to the economic conditions in their country for instance a few pounds a week pay in Ghana will go a long way.
This brings to mind the hoo hah over the pay Nike was paying workers in Thailand etc for their products. This was perverting the true situation that they were selling their products at excessive prices to fashion conscious clowns in the west.
2007-01-09 13:35:38 · answer #3 · answered by frank S 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What is "fair trade" if the rest of the world does not want anything from us but our wealth?
If I were supreme dictator the way I see "fair trade" is that country X wants something from country Z.. and that country Z wants something from country X. An even trade if you will...
What the American workers are getting kicked in the teeth over.. is that no foreign country wants our products.. they just want to systematically impoverish us to them forever...
Something has to give.. it is most definitely unsustainable.. [the making of the US into a deeply indebted third world country...]
Did this help any?
2007-01-10 04:15:12 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
what exactly is fair trade anyway, having 10 yo making nike's for a dime a day/
2007-01-09 21:30:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
how can it be fair trade if their goods cost more than our own
2007-01-09 13:19:16 · answer #6 · answered by trucker 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it cost more making no diiference to the companies and no pay difference to the people who make it
2007-01-09 13:43:17 · answer #7 · answered by liam0_m 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The big dollars companies don't make as much money!!!
2007-01-09 13:23:13 · answer #8 · answered by Stef 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋