How the pie is split

International trade is one of the biggest successes in the history of mankind. Looking back to the time when international trade began, with continents being discovered and ship routes being established, there is nothing like the opening of a market to make someone better off-ideally of course, the whole society. But as the pie of international trade is growing fatter and fatter, more and more rules and agreements are needed to slice its pieces fairly.

This is why trade talks are so crucial. Trade rounds are the marketplace of international trade, it?s the place where fortunes are made, societies are lifted out of poverty-or not.
With the lives and living standards of so many people depending on trade negotiators, clearly they stand under a lot of pressure. And according to insider reports, the gloves come of more often than not.

Whoever thought that talks of such important nature would be fairly civilized, think again: There have been reports of violent and aggressive behavior, slamming of fists, outright intimidation and the use of all kinds of psychological tricks, like prolonging meetings up until the early hours of the morning to weaken the opposition or appearing in large numbers. One especially effective weapon in the fight for the bigger slice are tariffs that can very skillfully force a whole country out of the desired market-an extremely effective threat. Especially negotiations between donor and development countries are often marred by these techniques. But in the end of the day, most countries agree: the more trade, the bigger the pie.

                                 

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