{"id":536,"date":"2018-08-25T11:14:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T18:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/?page_id=536"},"modified":"2025-07-20T11:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T18:23:11","slug":"the-wto-party-1999","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/the-wto-party-1999\/","title":{"rendered":"The WTO Party (1999)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Photo by elCarito<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For five months I was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer\u2019s WTO reporter, writing about the trade issues, politics and preparations for the World Trade Organization\u2019s ministerial meeting in Seattle scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 1999. As the date approached, it was clear that a protest was coming from people who opposed the WTO, and trade and global capitalism generally. Part of my job was to understand those people and communicate their point of view \u2014\u00a0a point of view I thought was bizarre. Here is one of my weekly business columns, from late in the year, shortly before the events. This is a potluck dinner in the home of one of the pro-trade people to which some of the anti-trade people are invited. The idea is to have a dialogue, and understand each other.<\/span><\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I brought a bowl of my wife\u2019s chow mein. A few minutes into dinner a guy came up to me and said, \u201cIs there meat in that chow mein?\u201d (There was. Pork.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We were from different worlds. Here is my P-I business column of November 24, 1999.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the debate about trade, each side says, \u201cYou\u2019re not listening.\u201d Each side says to the other, \u201cWhat you say about me is not true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Each side has its own language, a name for itself (free trader, fair trader) and its opponents (protectionist, corporate globalist).<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fair traders come in several varieties. Jeff Faux, president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., expects to see three groups on the streets of Seattle during the WTO meetings: nationalists, who want to protect jobs and laws in their own country; global villagers, who want to protect indigenous economies and environments, often in other countries; and global New Dealers, who want to abolish child labor and protect union organizers around the world.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The nationalists and the global villagers want to wall off part of the world from outside. The global New Dealers want to change the outside. They\u2019re not against a global market. They just want it to come with labor and environmental regulations. They get annoyed at being lumped in with \u201copponents\u201d of trade.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The free traders get annoyed at being labeled apologists for corporate profit. They are that, partly; to them, profit provides jobs and income, stable communities, theater companies, etc. Profit is good. They also argue that trade brings profit to both sides.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I heard many of these arguments last month at a potluck dinner. It was a WTO party, an event perhaps unique to Seattle. The host worked for a company involved in trade. Some of his guests were fair-trade activists. We ate, drank and argued for hours. At the end, several said they understood their opponents better, and that they weren\u2019t that far apart.\u00a0<\/span>It seemed to me they were. But it was a nice thing to say.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The fair traders wanted to make moral choices. Speaking of Europe\u2019s ban on hormone-treated beef, which was done without a scientific risk assessment, one woman said, \u201cI think it is noble that they decided not to base it on science, and decided to do what was right.\u201d She did not want genetically modified food no matter what the scientists said. Such food should be forbidden.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The free trader asked, \u201cSuppose I want to buy it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ll give you a vote,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The free trader didn\u2019t believe he would get a vote. At the national level, there has never been a direct vote on a policy question. And there is no way to have one, short of amending the Constitution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Where there are initiatives and referendums, the fair traders have not used them. When they wanted a resolution against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, they lobbied the King County Council. They got it. But few voters ever knew about it.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Secondly, the free trader didn\u2019t want one vote in a million about food policy. He wanted to be able to choose his dinner. To him, the issue was freedom.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To the fair trader, the issue was democracy. The democratic government of Norway forbade the importing of American apples until the Norwegian crop had been sold. Because of the WTO agreement, Norway had to change its policy. One fair trader, hearing this, was troubled. \u201cI\u2019m not sure I agree with you that Norway should buy American apples — if they don\u2019t want to,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another fair trader said she didn\u2019t want the WTO dictating what we had to allow in our market. \u201cWe want to make our own decisions of what\u2019s socially responsible,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each side spoke of making its own decisions. One side said \u201cwe.\u201d The other said \u201cI.\u201d There was the difference.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another difference was evaluating the social effect of the decision. When the free trader said, \u201cLook, suppose I want to buy a shirt from Burma,\u201d and talked about choice, a fair trader was looking at him with a pained expression. When he was done, she said, \u201cDo you really want to buy a shirt from Burma?\u201d<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s not the point,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not his point — but it was her point. To the fair trader, it was wrong to buy that shirt because of the social consequences in Burma. The free trader\u2019s assertion of his right was antisocial and should be stopped. To the free trader, he still had the right; he might decide not to exercise it out of respect for people in Burma, but it was up to him.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All this was very theoretical. The free trader had never been offered a shirt from Burma, or any other Burmese good, Burmese bond or share of a Burmese stock. Burma was not a good place to do business.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why\u00a0was\u00a0<\/i>that? Interesting question. We never got to it. The two sides might have found some things to agree on. At it was, it was mostly differences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u00a9 1979 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer<\/span><\/em><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of course, I was the free trader.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by elCarito \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For five months I was the Seattle Post-Intelligencer\u2019s WTO reporter, writing about the trade issues, politics and preparations for the World Trade Organization\u2019s ministerial meeting in Seattle scheduled for Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 1999. As the date approached, it was clear that a protest was coming from people who opposed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-536","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1473,"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/536\/revisions\/1473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bruceramsey.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}