A shorter trade post

The Cranky Economist feels especially prolific today, having churned out the inordinately lengthy posts below. So before I head to lunch, I will just leave you with a brief comment on a trade story that caught my eye today.

India is upset with European non-tariff trade barriers. Good for them. This is an important issue, and highlights a trading sin the Europeans have been getting away with for too long.

Tariffs and other obviously craven barriers to the international flow of goods are increasingly passe in this WTO world. What's a protectionist to do? Construct an elaborate network of regulations under the guise of "consumer protection" in order to keep foreign goods out.

One obvious example of how the Europeans love doing this is the persistent angst over genetically modified (GM) food. Genetic modifications to enhance disease- and pest resistance and increase agricultural production are the best hope for many third-world farmers to start lifting themselves out of poverty. Just remember the miracles that hardier strains of rice worked on the Indian economy decades ago. GM food is safe -- try as they might, opponents have been able to produce not a shred of evidence that GM food is a health risk, and we have been consuming it for years in America. But in Europe, an alliance of eco-apocalypticists, farmers and cynical politicians has succeeded in blocking the import of GM food. Publicly they argue that they are "protecting consumers." But since there is no evidence that there's anything for the consumers to be protected from, it seems much more likely that they are actually protecting domestic European producers.

So kudos to India's commerce and industry minister for calling Germany's economics and labor minister on the issue. It's about time Europe stopped using sham safety concerns to impoverish the developing world.