Right now, the Gap, Levi's and some others do buy clothes made in Haiti. But there are a bunch of others who don't, because of the quota on how many clothes Haiti can export to the U.S. without having to pay tariffs — including some big players, such as J.C. Penney and Wal-Mart.Essentially, these Haitian businessmen are arguing for a form of catch-up: The U.S lessens or loses its Haitian trade quota's, the Haitians are able to make and export more shirts, they employ more people and the whole country's economy improves. On the outset, this seems like a good idea to restart the Haitian economy and employ people, something that Haiti will need for the long term.
What is even more fascinating is the way they attempt to get the U.S.'s attention during a trade meeting, and how the U.S. representative really is calling the shots; there are lots of poor countries trying to export to the U.S.; it can pick and choose those who it will encourage trade with. According to the recorded part of the story, the Haitians are trying to utilize their current position as the devastated country constantly in the news in order to gain trade leverage. America has used trade as a political tool in the past (in fact, it is a very powerful political tool) in Egypt, Pakistan and even in an effort to quell Israel/Palestine conflict.
The last point the article made, about the pro-Haiti Charles Rangel's scandal and step down possibly hurting Haiti's economic development and recovery is an astonishing revelation of America's economic power in comparison to Haiti and other incredibly poor countries.
This radio story and its accompanying article have left me incredibly torn. I can certainly see the garment industry representative's point, that Haiti's future depends upon jobs and trade, and that lifted tariffs would give them a badly needed advantage. However, I wonder if garment manufacturing would simply take many Hatians from their current position of being desperately poor and jobless to being less poor and employed. Exporting more T shirts would certainly give the country something, but will it be enough for the country to build upon? Then again, there certainly aren't many other options.
A basic principle of economics: Trade will make people better off (as long as both parties have equal power).
ReplyDeleteI think that if the US is really dedicated to helping out Haiti, than it can lift the tariffs, at least for a little while. It won't be enough to save Haiti completely, but they need something to jump start them out of the state they're in. I don't think lifting the tariffs would hurt the United States all that much - it will help Haiti far more than it will hurt us.
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I think that education is Haiti's chief access of moving forward. All developed countries of the world have a literacy rate of about 90% and more. The literacy rate of a country usually corresponds with the economic development of a country.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it doesn't make sense to plead for this trade in t-shirts when only 52.9% of the population in Haiti can read and write. That will lead to exploitation of a people who are already poor. Help Haitians get a good education. With a good education, they will be able to create their jobs and have a more powerful voice in the world. Help Haiti to help themselves with education.
I am almost sure that these garment producers will give Haitians very low wages that won't help the economy to grow much or people's lives to improve.
I feel like the US could take one for the team in this ordeal. I realize that the world revolves around money, but still, Haiti is in a tough spot and while we're here saying that we want to help and get them on their way to recovery, our business sector certainly doesn't agree. I know that there are probably a ton of business and economic reasons as to why the US is refusing to import clothes from Haiti, but still, I feel as though there are more important things.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Haiti has a choice, and should just do what they can at this point. I think the t-shirt export idea is a good one, but they need to invest in infrastructure as well. This is only a temporary solution, and not a long term one. Haiti needs to take this chance to grow its literacy rate, employment rate, and general education. So, although this is a good start, they really need to have the tariffs lifted, and be relieved of French debt in order to get money flowing back into their economy, and let Haiti get back on its feet again.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to go back to a discussion we had near the beginning of the quarter about the difference between fair and free trade. Haiti is pretty desperate right now so of course they're going to be playing the pity card to get us to agree to bending trade rules. But if we're really concerned about Haiti we should take time to ensure that Haiti is guaranteed fair trade otherwise we are going to end up exploiting them despite possibly good intentions. They will end up working in sweatshops to make us $5 tank tops and their land will be degraded as they try to grow more cotton by dumping on pesticides to convince the soil this makes sense. I support helping Haiti, but doing it sustainably.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see humanitarians now rallying for sweatshops in third world countries. That is certainly a change from the usual point of view that sweat shops are terrible places. At the same time education alone will not solve the problem. If everyone could read, they still wouldn't have jobs or infrastructure. Education is a part of the recovery, but they also need a reformed government. However, that is jsut my opinion on their business.
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Situations like the one in which Haiti finds itself are what would make me somewhat interested to follow a "development economics" class, were it offered at K and were I to have more than a quarter and a couple weeks remaining.
ReplyDeleteThe problems faced by the impoverished in Haiti compound one another: to take steps out of poverty, they need gainful employment (often, but not necessarily, one that requires a basic education); to acquire a basic education, they need to have enough money to subsist from day to day, something that is hard to do without working 14-hour days in a sweatshop. Children in many impoverished families must work alongside their parents to supplement the meager family income.
Ideally, the United States could agree to remove the tariffs provided a minimum wage adequate enough for a family to survive with the parents at work and the children in school. This would raise the price of the goods made in the factories and perhaps result in lower employment, but it seems a better way to go then letting the market decide. Either way, it is whoever has the money to invest that will likely get the best part of the deal, after Walmart executives.
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The US has helped many countries in the past and I don’t understand why they can’t allow this for one more time. It is not like Haiti is going to become the leading economic country by letting them forgive the tariffs on trade. Maybe giving Haiti a timeline until when they are free of tariffs and check on their economic status and then see if they are well stable to let them be tariff free or go back to charging them. E.A
ReplyDeleteI agree that lifting the current tariffs on Haiti would not harm the United States and could offer substantial benefits to Haiti's much smaller economy. Sadly I do not believe that Haiti will be able to compete in the clother market with other nations which can create huge amounts of the same products. Although Haiti may still ber able to produce cheaper than other nations if not on a scale that is the same as other larger, more industrialized nations.
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