Have you ever swapped stickers, or pokemon cards? Trade is like a game of ‘swaps’, but the rules make it unfair.
UK farmers are “subsidised”. The government helps them run their farms and their businesses. This means that the food they grow can be sold very cheaply.
The governments from very poor countries aren’t allowed to help their farmers. Farmers need money to pay for their clothes, their houses and school for their children. But if they sell their food in the market next to the really cheap foods from rich countries, nobody wants to buy their stuff! But they can’t sell it even cheaper because they don’t get any help! It’s not their fault. The rules aren’t fair!
Samuel selling rice to passing cars. In the background is a big poster advertising imported American Rice. These imports make it harder for Samuel to get a decent price for his rice What are the trade rules and why are they so unfair?
All games have rules. If you swap a sticker, you get one back in return. If it’s a really good sticker you’re swapping, maybe you get two back. But you can decide whether you want to swap or not.
Sometimes countries make trade rules between themselves but, most of the time, trade rules are decided by a big organisation called the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Nearly 150 countries belong to the WTO, but not every country in the WTO has an equal say in what the rules should be.
Many people think it’s time the rules in this trading game were changed. Christian Aid and more than 60 other organisations have got together to ask rich countries to make the rules fairer for poor countries. We call this trade justice.
Print this page
Send to a friend