Importance of global cooperation

Photo: AFP

PALM oil exports to the United States have once again been held at a port because of labour standards of the exporting company. The same reason was given for stopping exports of rubber gloves earlier. It has become clear that labour standards are increasingly used as a non-tariff barrier to deny market access.

Such unilateral actions have grown more common in recent times as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has become more dysfunctional. I remember not long ago the world welcomed the WTO as a body that would invigorate fair global trade.