Power to the locals
From Mr Guy Herbert Sir: You are absolutely right, of course, in the main theme of your leading article (29 June). The poor do have most to gain from free trade. But the coda rather lets you down. Multinationals have never had much trouble investing in the Third World: their relations with even the most 'socialist' of dictators have long been mutually beneficial.
Yes, we should scrap our trade barriers now. But what needs to change most in many Third World economies is the poisonous situation whereby the only way to prosper is to have an official job, or political connections. This hurts the local entrepreneur who can do things better or cheaper given a free hand, not the multinationals who can afford to lobby lavishly everywhere, and which have an interest in keeping the barriers to entry by competitors high.
Guy Herbert
London WI
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