Winners and Losers Under Global Free Trade System ================================================= The losers will of course be those people who become unemployed as a result of production being moved to low-cost areas. There will also be those who lose their jobs because their employers do not move offshore and are not able to compete with cheap imported products. Finally, there will be those whose earning capacity is reduced following the shift away from sharing of profits with the labor force.

The winners will be those who can benefit from an almost inexhaustible supply of very cheap labor. They will be the companies who move their production offshore to low-cost areas, the companies who can pay lower salaries at home, and those who have capital to invest where labor is cheapest, and who as a result will receive larger dividends. The wounds inflicted on their societies will be very deep, and serious consequences could follow.

We must distinguish between the people on the one hand and their ruling elites on the other. It is the elites who are in favor of global free trade. It is they who will be enriched. Global Free Trade Pollution ===========================

The WTO admits that increased trade creates greater pollution. "Economic growth is harmful for the environment unless production becomes cleaner and less resource-consuming at the same time, and consumers become more willing to recycle waste instead of merely jettisoning it," the WTO said in its report. The WTO argues that it is necessary to resolve the conflict between trade and the environment. Recent Developments in Global Free Trade ======================================

The world's richest industrial nations have pledged to prevent trade talks in Qatar later this year from becoming a repeat of the Seattle stalemate, with promises of joint action to facilitate a new round of liberalization.

Divisions among the rich countries, and opposition from some of the leading developing nations, has raised fears about the meeting.

Prompted by signs that preparations for November's meeting of the WTO are stalling, the G7 has sought to give fresh impetus to the moves to ensure freer trade.

"We strongly support efforts to launch a new WTO round later this year, to reduce trade barriers in both industrialized and developing countries," the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors said. "We will work together to achieve the goal of free trade." "Trade barriers also generally make for poor environmental policy. Environmental problems are best addressed at source, whether they involve polluting production processes or undefined property rights over natural resources," said the comprehensive analysis by the WTO secretariat.

"Every WTO member government supports open trade because it leads to higher living standards for working families which in turn leads to a cleaner environment," said the WTO director general.

"Workers' rights are not protected at all in global trade rules," said the Washington state director of field mobilization of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations).

(To Be Contd.)