End of day adjournment debate on Free Trade Agreements: Cameroon and Ghana - June 9
Thursday, 10 June 2021 08:33
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD):...That brings me to my question
to the Minister: how is the UK assessing the impact of trade deals
beyond the very rudimentary scoping assessments that happen prior
to negotiations. Women comprise the majority of the cheap labour
pool in both Ghana and Cameroon. They are therefore particularly
vulnerable to the disruptive impact of trade liberalisation. Cheap
food imports following the removal of tariff barriers have been
found to reduce the domestic prices...Request free trial
(Richmond Park) (LD):...That brings me to my
question to the Minister: how is the UK assessing the impact of
trade deals beyond the very rudimentary scoping assessments that
happen prior to negotiations. Women comprise the majority of the
cheap labour pool in both Ghana and Cameroon. They are therefore
particularly vulnerable to the disruptive impact of trade
liberalisation. Cheap food imports following the removal of tariff
barriers have been found to reduce the domestic prices of
agricultural produce and to lower women’s agricultural earnings.
For example, in Ghana and South Africa the dumping of EU poultry
products following the EU economic partnership agreements have left
many of the local farmers unable to compete with the tonnes of
frozen chicken dropped on African markets annually. Will the
Minister explain how he will know whether the deals are rolling
back progress on women’s economic rights if there are no ex-post
assessments?
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