FREE VS FAIR TRADE
Fair traders and free traders have a surprising
amount of common ground. Both camps are concerned with global justice,
poverty alleviation and global prosperity.
Free trade refers to a general openness to exchange goods and
information between and among nations with few-to-no barriers-to-trade.
Fair trade refers to exchanges, the terms of which meet the demands of
justice.
Fair trade organizations, such as the Fair Trade Federation and the
International Federation for Alternative Trade maintain that fair trade
practices alleviate poverty, enhance gender equity, improve working
conditions, the environment, and distributive justice.
free trade proponents believe that under a system of
voluntary exchange, the demands of justice are met. Although free
traders hope to alleviate poverty and improve conditions around the
world, they prefer measures that are less intrusive than fair traders,
who regard the unfettered market as injurious to these same goals.
