{"id":15676,"date":"2018-04-03T15:05:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T15:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=15676"},"modified":"2021-12-01T13:52:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:52:08","slug":"how-free-trade-hypocrisies-are-hurting-our-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/15676\/how-free-trade-hypocrisies-are-hurting-our-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How free trade hypocrisies are hurting our world"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you want to be able to trust that the food on your plate is produced without animal cruelty, slavery and dangerous pesticides, regardless of where it comes from? That the wood and paper you buy comes from sustainable and responsible forest management? That the clothes you wear are produced without toxic chemicals and made by workers in decent conditions?<\/span><\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t seem like an unreasonable way of organising ourselves. So what\u2019s stopping us from getting there? <\/span><\/p>\n

The complicated system of world trade is certainly getting in the way. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"

Demonstration against TTIP and CETA trade deals in Berlin \u00a9 Ruben Neugebauer \/ Greenpeace<\/p><\/div>\n

Right now, trade is dominating the <\/span>world\u2019s headlines<\/span><\/a>. Donald Trump is throwing his toys out of the cot, threatening and applying tariffs to steel according to his whim. EU leaders reacted to the threats of tariffs by calling it blatant protectionism, even going so far as to say that <\/span>this wouldn\u2019t happen<\/span><\/a> if only we had agreed the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, when the EU get the exemption they wanted, the Commission <\/span>started proceedings<\/span><\/a> for its own safeguard measures to protect its steel market. Free trade indeed\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who claim to bow before the free trade gods are all too happy to implement protectionist measures for their own political gains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rich countries have made our current trade rules – via both the <\/span>World Trade Organisation<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>free trade agreements<\/span><\/a> – and made sure that these rules suit their needs, providing few means for people in poor countries to protect themselves from aggressive export policies. The rules governing global trade policy mean that powerful countries and corporations escape accountability while exploiting workers, <\/span>small-scale farmers<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>consumers<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

These so-called free trade policies promote rather than stop <\/span>high-risk commodities like palm oil<\/span><\/a>, and do nothing to address the regular <\/span>food scandals<\/span><\/a> in the <\/span>meat<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>dairy industries<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Governments are playing protectionism against free trade in words but not deeds.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the biggest <\/span>examples of hypocrisy is the <\/span>EU\u2019s common agricultural policy<\/span><\/a> – or CAP – established over 50 years ago and currently under reform. This policy, thanks also to the support of highly protective tariffs and agro-chemical companies, has allowed destructive intensive practices to become the default way European food is produced.<\/span><\/p>\n

It has short-term benefits, perhaps, for you and me as consumers; food prices are often lower than production costs. But it favours industrial agricultural over small ecological farmers, and there are, frankly, no long-term benefits to be seen. Subsidies and market power are concentrated in the hands of a few massive corporations whose production system depends on routine applications of pesticides and fertilisers and confining massive numbers of animals, often <\/span>feeding them with soy<\/span><\/a> from a deforested rainforest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Deforested

Deforested part of the Brazilian Amazon for cattle ranching \u00a9 Marizilda Cruppe \/ EVE \/ Greenpeace<\/p><\/div>\n

The European Commission is currently negotiating over 20 new free trade agreements. Aside from the <\/span>Mercosur deal with Latin America<\/span><\/a> –<\/span> where the meat industry has a dire impact on the Amazon, rural areas,<\/span> and often threatens Indigenous rights – <\/span>they want to open up foreign agricultural markets to European goods. This would be to the detriment of local farmers and workers who, instead of growing a variety of local crops for local consumption, would be forced to change to cash crops and monocultures. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what can we do? <\/span><\/p>\n

Our individual choices can challenge the status quo, and force things to change. You can <\/span>check what you buy<\/span><\/a> and refuse to purchase products that come from deforestation – like <\/span>soy, palm oil, cocoa and other agricultural and meat products. <\/span>You can <\/span>actively challenge<\/span><\/a> governments\u2019 decisions to make new trade deals that benefit large multinationals at the expense of our health and environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

You can write letters to newspapers, vote for politicians who take this matter seriously, <\/span>launch<\/span><\/a> petitions to bring people\u2019s attention to how the current trade system is unfair; how it\u2019s all about big players and multinationals exploiting others. <\/span><\/p>\n

We can challenge the myth <\/span>that we have to choose between protectionism versus free trade, and end the myth that free trade <\/span>brings any meaningful benefit<\/span><\/a> to the average consumer<\/span>.<\/span> For more information about the trade we want, <\/span>click here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shira Stanton is a senior political strategist at Greenpeace International<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Block content is empty. Check the block’s settings or remove it.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you want to be able to trust that the food on your plate is produced without animal cruelty, slavery and dangerous pesticides, regardless of where it comes from? That…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":15680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[67],"p4-page-type":[59],"class_list":["post-15676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-and-economic-systems","tag-consumption","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15676"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51328,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15676\/revisions\/51328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15676"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=15676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}