Banned wagon: global
A weekly survey of world restrictions on freedom and free trade
NEWSPAPER readers will have seen a recent advertisement placed by Christian Aid in the form of a spoof boxing poster.
The ad depicted a bullying 'world-trade enforcer' poised with his bare knuckles, about to take on an emaciated figure by the name of Charles 'Tomatoes are my Livelihood' Avaala. Mr Avaala, we learn, is a Ghanaian farmer who can no longer sell his tomatoes thanks to cheap imports from the EU. Those interested in joining the charity's campaign against 'unfair trade rules' are invited to cut out a slip at the bottom and send it to 10 Downing Street: 'Dear Tony Blair, Trade rules must allow governments in developing countries to protect and support poor farmers so they can grow their way out of poverty.'
Christian Aid is not wrong in sniffing out an injustice. It is absurd that EU farmers should be able to undercut those in Ghana thanks to £250 million of subsidies paid by European taxpay ers, and that, as a result, Ghana is
importing 10,000 tonnes of tomato concentrate from Europe a year. But there
this column must part company with Christian Aid. It would be even more absurd if Ghanaian taxpayers were to be coerced into a battle to out-subsidise the EU. No one can out-subsidise the EU, and economic misery awaits those who even try.
What would help to put a bit more flesh on Mr Avaala's bones — and bene fit European tomato-eaters to boot — is if the EU were to stop giving handouts to its farmers, and simultaneously throw open its markets to Third World competition. Mr Avaala, who would be happy on a fraction of the earnings made by our own Mercedes-driving farmers, would find himself extremely competitive.
To provide a form encouraging you to take a pair of scissors to your Spec
tator would be an unnecessary act of vandalism, but readers are warmly invited to write to 10 Downing Street saying, 'Dear Tony Blair, EU subsidies are hurting European consumers and Third World farmers. Abolish them now.'
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