The Antibiosis of Free Trade

The Antibiosis of Free Trade

The rocket of free trade, which propels the world into a future of unity and interconnectedness, also leaves behind a long list of societal ills along with its toxic fumes and discarded boosters. The veil that the World Trade Organization places on free trade, is often criticized for allowing economic inequality, political domination, decline of national sovereignty, weak labour unions, ethnic conflict, environmental degradation and the exploitation of foreign impoverished workers, to all remain hidden behind its shroud of deception.

Northern countries today, are eager to open world markets to their goods and reap the benefits of profuse cheap labour in developing countries. As a result, developing nations, in hopes of sowing the seeds of prosperity, took all measures necessary to attract foreign direct investment from transnational corporations. This integration was wrought though tariff reductions, privatization of state enterprises, and the dampening of environmental and labour standards. Developing nations embraced freer trade as the life raft that would save their nations from drowning in the sea of their poverty. A symbiotic relationship was to be created between the two parties; however it has been anything but such. Freer trade like the bottom dwelling hagfish, which likes to enter its victims through any orifice, has taken up residence within poor nations, and continues to eat out the nation’s innards until there is nothing left but a hollow sack of skin and the putrid vestiges of innocuous countries.

International financial institutions, such as the WTO and IMF, facilitated by regional trade agreements were able to coerce and exploit Honduras into amalgamation. This leaves developing nations with no choice but to unlock the shackles that had previously restrained their counties from opening their economies to trade and investment. Foreign investment is often seen a vital avenue for the transfer of skills and technology...