Faculty in the News
In the News
African Student Union speaker addresses fair trade
Publication date: March 9, 2009
Source: Kansas State Collegian
Author: Molly Sanders
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The Kansas State Collegian wrote about Professor Raj Bhala's lecture on fair trade issues associated with the World Trade Organization. Bhala, the Rice Distinguished Professor, delivered the address on Friday, March 6, at K-State's International Student Center in Manhattan. The event was hosted by the African Student Union.
The Collegian wrote:
Bhala argued that the representatives of the WTO have fallen away from the course they had initially set to assist third-world and developing countries - African countries in particular - and help them to compete with countries like the United States and China. He gave examples of some of the proposals that had been put in place to assist developing countries by lowering tariffs or cutting farm subsidies. But he said there were many loopholes big countries could go through to become an exception to these rules. In the end, the developing countries would end up even more disadvantaged than they started out.
He said the complexity of the documents drawn up by the WTO is difficult for even specialists like him to navigate. Thus, if an attempt to make sense of such a document were to be made by a third-world country, where there are few international trade lawyers, if any, the meaning would be extremely difficult, or even impossible, to discern.
With such a self-interested attitude shown by many of the WTO members, Bhala said the organization has lost sight of its original aims and of the common good.