Trade Liberalisation and ‘Fair Trade’ Demands: Addressing the Environmental and Labour Standards Issues

Alternative ways to confront the demands of rich countries for higher labour standards in poor nations are proposed. The author favours the achievement of a multilateral consensus on the moral and economic legitimacy of a carefully-defined labour standard under the aegis of the International Labour Organisation, which should also be in charge of monitoring compliance. Grave violations would lead to multilateral sanctions against the concerned nations.