Oxfam: ‘Free Trade Agreements Bad For Poor’

Mar 28th, 2007 11:30 AM UTC
By Stephanie Burgos, Oxfam America's Trade Policy Advisor

In an open letter to the people of the United States, Peru’s agricultural producers called on the US Congress to oppose a recently negotiated trade agreement between their country and the US.

“This Free Trade Agreement is going to mean a lot more poverty in my country,” said Luis Zúñiga, a Peruvian rice farmer and the president of the National Convention of Peruvian Agriculture, who came to Washington to make this plea on behalf of Peru’s 1.7 million farmers.

Free trade agreements are touted for their benefits to the poor, but the reality is not so rosy when the rules are unfair for them.

Trade could be an engine to lift millions out of poverty, but these agreements are simply bad for development. Agreements such as the ones with Peru and Colombia that are now in front of Congress will only exacerbate poverty in these countries by imposing hardships on developing country farmers, making access to affordable medicines more difficult, and constraining the kinds of policies developing country governments should enact to protect their own citizens and fight poverty.

In a new report entitled Signing Away the Future, Oxfam highlights how the US and the EU are using regional and bilateral trade deals to get what they want from developing countries one by one since they haven’t been successful at the World Trade Organization. But this has very serious implications for poor countries’ development.

“Current US agricultural subsidies distort prices on the international market and are one of the causes of poverty,” says Luis. “Farmers are left with no other options but to move to the cities, to come to the US or to produce coca, which can lead to even greater problems.”

Angélica Chaparro, who came to Washington to share the struggles of the many women who work in Colombia’s flower export industry, agrees: “We’re hoping the US Congress will look to stop these FTAs.”

For more information on Oxfam’s work on free trade agreements, click here.

TAGS: The ONE Blog, Trade