[Mb-civic] Trade and Aid: Stars Are Aligned - Sebastian Mallaby - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Trade and Aid: Stars Are Aligned

By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, November 21, 2005; Page A15

Africa doesn't get much play in the media. On the other hand, Brad Pitt 
ducks and dives to stay out of the media. This is why Hollywood's most 
desirable man spent Friday preparing for a new role: Brad Pitt, trade 
expert.

Pitt takes this business seriously. Black suit, black notebook. A 
profound, concentrated look. Impressively neat handwriting.

Across the table, Steve Radelet from the Center for Global Development 
is running through the standard arguments on trade: comparative 
advantage, infant industry protection, import substitution. Pitt keeps 
writing it all down, looking like the journalism major he once was. Then 
he asks a question.

"If I could interrupt. . . . "

Interrupt? Millions dream of being, ah, interrupted by this idol.

"If I could interrupt, isn't the argument more about worker rights?"

Radelet explains that trade-oriented firms in the poor world treat 
workers better than factories that produce for the local market.

"Shouldn't the argument be, what's not good enough for us is not good 
enough for them?" Pitt persists. "In the movie business, we can't burn 
toxic things when we film in the United States. So we go to Morocco and 
burn all the rubber tires we like when we're doing action scenes."

Hmm. The economist concedes that the actor has a point: Morocco's air 
quality matters. But if a poor country wants to attract Hollywood's 
business, maybe it has a right to relax environmental standards?

A little later, somebody remarks that the poor don't earn much from 
exports because the value is all in Western brands. Why do people pay 
for this ethereal thing called brand?

"I'm a brand," Pitt interjects. "I ask myself this question."

The meeting goes on for an hour and a half, and there's no respite 
afterward. A former U.S. trade negotiator arrives to brief Pitt; later 
there are trade specialists from the AFL-CIO and Friends of the Earth, 
then two West African cotton farmers. By the end of the day, Pitt's 
still taking careful notes. He looks deep into the farmers' eyes and 
promises to get their message to the public.

(continued)...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112000849.html?nav=hcmodule
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