One of the most common questions we hear in our stores is asking to clarify the difference between 'Free Trade' and 'Fair Trade'. It remains a vague idea that takes just a little bit of history to understand fully. Shall we?
The mid nineties buzzed with all the good that Free Trade could do with the world. The end of the Soviet era allowed globalization to take a firmer hold on economics and culture. For better or for worse, goods would start moving at an even more accelerated rate from country to country seeing as how most of the severe political blockades were being lifted. Under this direction, economists began to assess the monetary hurdles that also affected the flow of goods and services. It turned out there were a great number of them, from environmental considerations to working conditions. A rising trend grew in international economic thought to alleviate burdens that slowed down the momentum of trade. With the 1994 passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), America allied itself with this idea. It, along with many other foreign economic policies, meant to overlook much of these on-the-ground factors that contributed to the manufacture of goods, and to allow a much more uninhibited exchange.
With the aid of hindsight and the fact that my anti-establishment angst lies safely behind me, I can good-naturedly say that Free Trade was not designed by evil little men trying to squeeze whatever they could out of impoverished countries. Genuine economic principles led this movement. There is the saying, generally ascribed to John F. Kennedy, that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” In true free market style, this belief is grounded in the resolution that if any sector of an economy grows, then surely this will bolster the economy as a whole. This same sentiment can be seen in the “trickle down” economic approach taken by Ronald Reagan. Understandably, when the world slammed back together after being divided by the Cold War, economists and politicians began actively treating the world as a single, cohesive economy. The push for Free Trade was meant as a way to unite the new global economy and allow smoother sailing along a new rising tide.
Unfortunately, the reality of Free Trade did not prove as simple as the economic maxim would have you believe. First, though the first world acclimated to the idea of a free-moving global economy quickly, much of the rest of the world could not. For the greater part of the last century, there was a political war being held with economic concessions either being doled out for allegiance or withheld due to defiance. Whatever the cause, many of the developing world’s economic infrastructures were limited, unstable, or nonexistent. As with many other times in history, the resources offered by the promise of Free Trade led to more infighting than cooperation. Various individuals, companies, or governments monopolized the few avenues open to Free Trade in the developing countries.
Secondly, enterprising people almost immediately exploited the hurdles that were overcome in the spirit of Free Trade. NAFTA stipulated that regulations on working conditions or environmental impact could not be enacted if they proved a barrier to Free Trade. This had the somewhat predictable effect of inspiring manufacturers to drastically cut corners in production, leading to dangerous working conditions without any regard for preserving the environment around them.
More than anything else, Free Trade meant to focus on the promotion of competition by allowing a minimum of government interference. This led to producing goods for as cheaply as possible, and the first world paying as little as possible for those goods, no matter the consequences. Within these parameters, the movement for Fair Trade began.
Even before the expansion of Free Trade really took place, many developing world producers and first world consumers saw the signs of what would happen and collectively organized in many different ways. As reality reflected their worries, momentum grew and the idea for paying a fair rate for goods produced with regard to working environment and ecology spread all over the world. From the 1994 Zapatista uprising in Southern Mexico to the World Trade Organization protests at the turn of the century, to the food riots that have littered the past decade, frustration with Free Trade has shown itself clearly.
We at Heine Brothers’ Coffee depend on farmers around the globe, and they equally depend on us. Because of that, we feel earnestly that we have a responsibility to give them a fair price for an excellent product. In this way, the farmers earn a living wage and maintain environmental sustainability, and we can continue operating an expanding business. Our official definition of Fair Trade is: “We buy directly from coffee farmers, pay fair prices, provide farmers access to credit and encourage environmental stewardship. All of this is designed to help coffee farming families improve their quality of life, keep their children in school and reinvest in their farms.” Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?
For the past twelve years, Heine Brothers’ Coffee has joined multiple other coffee shops and suppliers throughout the hemisphere as founding members in our Fair Trade co-op, Cooperative Coffees, Inc. Together, we have traveled to many different coffee producing countries and met with farmers to find a way to make our business and theirs profitable for everyone. The experiences have left us keenly aware of the impact that we have in our global community and vindicated our commitment to Fair Trade. Of course, this has caused us to make sacrifices in our business, but we make them knowing we genuinely attempt to strive for social justice.
Our patrons allow us to directly change the world, in effect, changing the world themselves. Our staff does not forget that the communities, in which we work, actively join us in these efforts. As a company, we feel incredibly blessed. The pledge we keep to buy Fair Trade consistently proves challenging, but knowing our customers support us every day in this decision ensures that we will proudly continue.
