Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 10/2008

Signing Away The Future: How trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries undermine development

March 2007

Oxfam Publishing

Abstract

The quiet advance of trade and investment agreements between rich and poor countries threatens to deny developing countries a favourable foothold in the global economy. Driven by the USA and the European Union, these agreements impose far-reaching rules that place severe restrictions on the very policies developing countries need in order to fight poverty.