Rich Nations Are Criticized for Enforcing Trade Barriers

The annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. provided critics an occasion to lambaste rich nations for their hypocrisy in preaching free trade while protecting their own farmers and workers. Is anybody listening? Farm subsidies and protection accorded to the textile industry, for instance, have a disproportionately large effect on poor countries because a large number of their populations are engaged in agriculture and other labor-intensive industries. – YaleGlobal