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A comment on Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland. Parent comment

Re:Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland by tsimionescu on Friday March 19, 2021 @08:38AM (#26512557)
I get where you're coming from, but in this case they are completely right to use this phrasing, with exactly the connotation you are talking about: the status quo is that the first world is NOT allowing these countries to run their affairs as they want internally.

That is, any developing country is presented with 2 options by the developed world: either accept 'free trade' (allow foreign investors to buy up the local industry, commit to IP laws, don't apply tariffs) or no one will be allowed to trade with you or send you aid.

In the meantime, powerful countries are taking numerous protectionist measures in their key industries, since that is the only way to actually be prosperous.

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Re:Ghana will no longer sell cocoa to Switzerland by btown on Friday March 19, 2021 @06:37PM (#26518847)
> either accept 'free trade' (allow foreign investors to buy up the local industry, commit to IP laws, don't apply tariffs) or no one will be allowed to trade with you or send you aid.

Do multi-national trade agreements (which I believe are the core mechanism for this) actually penalize signatories for trading with non-signatories? Or is it more that trade between signatories is so advantaged that no company within a signatory state would be competitive were it to trade with a counterpart in a non-signatory state?

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