Free Trade vs Fair Trade

Controversy about the participation of Indonesia in CAFTA (China-ASEAN Free Trade Area) continues. Various parties claimed that participation in CAFTA RI adverse business and industry in the country.  

However, some states will have positive impact because the competition would encourage efficiency, increasing market potentials, etc.  

Responding to this, the Ministry of Industry, via the Ministry of Industry re-submitted a letter of notification to request the extension of a grace period or even delay the implementation.
Jacob Viner in 1950 proposed the idea of forming free trade zone (free trade sugar palm). 

The idea was to continue the idea of Adam Smith that since the 17th century proclaimed the concept of free trade, free enterprise, and free movement of human resources, goods and services.  

Viner ideas embodied in the establishment of free trade zones of the European Economic Area (European Economic Community / EEC) in 1957.

Free trade zone was increased to economic integration in 2000. EEC's name later changed to the EU (European Union).  

Integration step is included with the currency of 12 nations merged into a single European currency, the euro. 

The success of the European Union is to inspire the emergence of various other trade area in ASEAN AFTA example, the NAFTA in North America, MERCOSUR in Latin America, Asia and APEC trade Pasifik.Free
The concept of free trade done by taking various measures, among other things, abolish the import duty tariffs, quotas, and various discriminatory export / import with the aim to create market expansion / creation of trade (trade creation).  

Its expression is increased exports, increased trading volume, increased economies of scale, and the company's business. In practice, can not be avoided.

The parties will be marginalized because it lost the competition with foreign stakeholders that have a larger scale so that foreign parties could operate more efficiently.

For example, the EU still decided to suspend implementation of the liberalization of agricultural trade in free until 25 years into the future. It would be ironic if CAFTA still allow the agricultural sector to compete
Face-to-face (head lo head), with competitors from overseas. Examples that we have experienced is invasion of fruit imports from China continue to rise.

For example data from the Ministry of Agriculture (2009), imports of fruit year 2007sebesar U.S. $ 449.1 million in 2008 to U.S. $ 474.1 million, while the months of December 2009 specifically on fruit imports from China increased 1.5 times compared to the previous month , which reached U.S. $ 42.45 million.

Who else is a victim in this competition if it was not the small farmers of Indonesia. This illustrates just how volatile the fate of small businessmen and small farmers in our country. The existence of free trade (free trade) raises concerns and ideas so that free trade has been accompanied by a fair trade (fair trade). Filing renegotiations should be supported as an effort to create a fair trade in free trade agreements.

Fair trade.

Fair trade is a response to the various free trade agreements in the lay-gai area that raises a variety of excesses on ethical issues, farmers / small scale, sustainable development, environmental conservation, labor, health and food security, and so forth.

Torsten (2006), eg, argued that fair trade spirit should first put forward in free trade, not only the passion to accumulate capital and purely economic motives.

Basically there are many things to be put forward in trade, ie, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, protection of the small farmers, the ban on workers children, sustainable development and the environment, a fair pricing strategy and appropriate, guarantee the security of working environment, ensuring the safety and health products and food, the increase of equality between who agree on free trade, promotion of gender equality, the creation of consumer awareness and criticality, and so forth.

This movement initially described as a utopia or a dream, considering that the human tendency so greedy on the money / capital so that tends to ignore the ethics and morality, or understand posentris anthropologists, that whatever actions are lawful origin matt beneficial for age / change sa corporations. Eg corruption / bribery, exploiting the environment, labor, and so forth.