The term “fair trade” was originally coined for a social movement – to allow producers and workers in developing, exporting countries to compete on a level playing field with developed, importing countries in terms of pricing power.

The idea is that buying products from developing countries at fair prices can support sustainable development better than through simple grants or aid. Today we hear a lot about fair trade, but in an entirely different context.

Now, policy makers in advanced countries—especially the US—are repositioning trade policies to ensure that free trade is also fair trade.

But here the term “fair” implies something very different. It cites uneven bilateral trade results, criticizing a country that benefits at the expense of the other. Those railing against “unfair” trade use easy benchmarks like bilateral trade deficits, or probable job losses due to an influx of competitively priced imports to justify erecting trade barriers.  —  blog.adb.org/blogs