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Archive forJune 24th, 2002 | back to home

24 June 2002
Filed under:Current Affairs (World) at3:05 pm
  • the world trading system is “unfair”: the poor countries face protectionism that is more acute than their own;
  • the rich countries have wickedly held on to their trade barriers against poor countries, while using the Bretton Woods institutions to force down the poor countries’ own trade barriers; and
  • it is hypocritical to ask poor countries to reduce their trade barriers when the rich countries have their own.

How many of the above do you believe? Well, according to Jagdish Bhagwati, a Professor at Columbia University, writing in the Economist this week, none of these are valid.

In fact, asymmetry of trade barriers goes the other way. Take industrial tariffs. As of today, rich-country tariffs average 3%; poor countries’ tariffs average 13%. Nor do peaks in tariffs—concentrated in textiles and clothing, fisheries and footwear, and clearly directed at the poor countries—change the picture much: the United Nations Council for Trade, Aid and Development (UNCTAD) has estimated that they apply to only a third of poor-country exports. Moreover, the trade barriers of the poor countries against one another are more significant restraints on their own development than those imposed by the rich countries.

If anyone hears of a specific rebuttal of these arguments from a credible NGO or academic, I would like to read them.lactating nipples hairyteens pics nude tiny youngmilk gallery link pissing pussysinterracial breedinghairy ass indianphotos asian naturistnaked housewives naughty maturehousewife interracialnasty gay hot sexwith peeing website girls and pooping a