Background
Trade has the potential to lift people out of poverty, yet millions of the world's poorest are being left behind. Oxfam America is campaigning to change the unjust rules that discriminate against poor countries.
Wealthy countries dominate the international body that determines global trade rules, the World Trade Organization, and write the rules of international trade to better serve their interests. Under these rules, poor countries lose opportunities to engage in trade to their advantage. The wealthy countries operate double standards and force poor countries to keep to the rules, thereby denying poor people the opportunity to work their own way out of poverty.
Consider the following facts:
- If Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America increased their exports by one percent, 128 million people would move out of poverty.
- For every dollar of wealth generated in the world, low-income countries receive around three cents.
- For every dollar given to low-income countries in aid, they lose two dollars to rich countries because of unfair trade barriers against their exports.
