The Trade Trap: Poverty and Global Commodity Markets - Softcover

Coote, Belinda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0855983515 ISBN 13: 9780855983512

Publisher: Oxfam, 1996

Synopsis

This work explains how countries that depend on the export of primary commodities, like coffee or cotton, are caught in a trap: the more they produce the lower the price falls on the international market. If they try to add value to their commodities by processing them, they run into tariff barriers imposed by the rich industrialized nations. To make matters worse, they have to compete with subsidized exports dumped on the world market by rich surplus-product countries. This edition contains an additional chapter which reports on the outcome of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the creation of the new World Trade Organization. It examines the impact of rapid economic liberalization on the livelihoods and natural environments of poor communities and recommends ways in which trade could be regulated to protect their rights. The book explains the complexities of the world trade system and examines what poor countries can do about the trap in which they find themselves.

About this title

About the Author

Belinda Coote joined AMREF UK as CEO in April 2011. She spent 18 years with Oxfam in a variety of roles both in the UK and overseas, including in Nepal, Bangladesh and South Africa. She has been Chief Executive of two organisations - Medical Aid for Palestinians (2002-6) and Lattitude Global Volunteering (2006-9). More recently she has been undertaking consultancies and interim management roles to support organisations through periods of change including for Merlin and EveryChild.

From the Back Cover

This best-selling book explains how countries that depend on the export of primary commodities, like coffee or cotton, are caught in a trap: the more they produce, the lower the price falls on the international market. If they try to add value to their commodities by processing them, they run into tariff barriers imposed by the rich industrialised nations. To make matters worse, they have to compete with subsidised exports dumped on the world market by rich surplus-producing countries. This new edition contains an additional chapter which reports on the outcome of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the creation of the new World Trade Organisation. It examines the impact of rapid economic liberalisation on the livelihoods and natural environments of poor communities, and recommends ways in which trade could be regulated to protect their rights.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxfam
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0855983515
• ISBN 13: 9780855983512
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 224