World Bank's measure of extreme poverty is to earn $ 2.15 per day, which is rare in Western countries.At this level of income, the shadow of hunger or hunger is the inevitable feature of life.It is estimated that more than half of the children born in poor families have malnutrition.It can be said that for families living in such a harsh environment, even if a little improvement in material improvement, the contribution to the overall well -being of human beings is more than a relatively lucky family.
In half a century, one of the greatest achievements of human beings is to make amazing progress in reducing poverty.The global population ratio living below the poverty line decreased from more than 40%in 1981 to 10%in 2021, most of which from two countries: China and India.The rapid decline in the poor is unexpected, so that the United Nations has achieved the goal of halving the global poverty -stricken population in five years in advance.This improvement also brings a fair global revenue distribution, and developing countries have risen sharply in the world's GDP.
These achievements are inseparable from international trade.In the late 1970s and the mid -1980s, China and India became increasingly open their economy to the world.Many countries are prosperous by using trade as the ladder of development, including the East Asian "Four Little Dragons" earlier earlier in the 20th century.
Due to the increasingly shift protectionism in Western countries, all this is at stake today.Among the two sides of the Atlantic and Congress, the view of trade in countries that are not too rich will lead to the view that the country's employment and wages are reduced.This zero -sum thinking will seriously limit the living level of living less than the development opportunities of those countries in the West.
International trade is closely linked to economic growth, and it has long been a natural enemy of global poverty.Over the past 40 years, its trade system liberalized and integrated into a developing country of the world economy -we call it a globalization country -its performance has greatly exceeded non -globalized countries.The development speed of globalization countries is much faster than rich countries, which allows them to gradually reduce the per capita income gap with western countries that are still expanding.
Since the 1980s, China and India have been one of the fastest -growing economies in the world, which has made 1.1 billion people get rid of absolute poverty.Trade liberalization is the core of economic reforms in the two countries, and the proportion of trade in GDP has soared after liberalization.These reforms include reducing tariffs, cancellation of license requirements and import monopolies, and improving the flexibility of exchange rates.The combination of these reforms with many domestic policy changes has released the vitality of local entrepreneurs, making it easier for enterprises to obtain foreign ideas, capital and markets.At the same time, more intense domestic competition, including the competition from imported products and newly established subsidiaries from imported products and foreign companies, eliminated low -efficiency companies and stimulated rapid productivity growth.
This is a blueprint that is generally adopted.More than one -third of the electronic giant Samsung Samsung is produced in Vietnam.Even in the context of rapid economic growth throughout the country, the performance of Taiyuan and Beining's two provinces in significant reduction in poverty is quite prominent.They are the production place of mobile phones.Similar situations in Mexico have also occurred. In cities where multinational companies are more concentrated, the rate of poverty has decreased greater, and the opportunities to obtain basic products such as food, health care and education have also improved.
Connecting with the supply chain helps local enterprises to prosper and develop.They can not only gain cutting -edge technology, but also develop precious long -term relationships, and learn how to control the international market.Their demand for input products and raw materials helps to create a dynamic local ecosystem.The World Bank estimates that, every time the number of people participating in the international supply chain increases by 1%, the per capita income will increase by more than 1%.
Trade often reduces gender -related inequality by creating more employment opportunities for women. Relevant employment women often get quite generous compensation for local standards.In developing countries, export -oriented enterprises are employed more women than companies produced only for domestic markets.Women occupy a large proportion of new jobs in the service export department.The call center of Delhi and Mumbai hired approximately 1 million employees, of which women occupied a particularly high proportion.In Bangladesh, there are more villages related to the clothing export industry -the majority of the labor force in these places are women, and the number of children in children's marriage and minor pregnancy has declined significantly. The average young girls in these villages accept an average of 1.5 years.educate.
Today, these achievements are facing unnecessary huge risks.Trump promised to impose 10%to 20%tariffs on almost all goods imported to the United States, and levy 60%of tariffs on all Chinese goods.Among the Democrats, the mood of anti -trade is relatively mild, but it is not completely absent.The Biden government not only did not completely reverse Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum, but also recently added tariffs.Although the target of its iconic inflation reduction bill is commendable, the bill is full of punishment regulations for purchasing goods from abroad. Even if these products are cheaper and better than domestic products.Globally, trade restrictions have increased in explosive, and the number of protectionist measures implemented in 2022 is more than 10 times that of more than 10 years ago.
High tariffs designed to protect the employment of wealthy countries have been proved to be backward and futile.Their effects are decreasing, because low -income households consume a large number of TV and grocery trade products such as TV and groceries, and tariffs will make them more expensive; and richer consumers often buy non -trade services such as medical and restaurants and restaurants.It is useless to say that the tariffs are futile because even if they can save jobs, they are usually offset by the loss of employment in other economic sectors caused by tariffs.
In other words, the real price of opposition to trade will not be borne by rich countries. After all, these countries are already wealthy.The best reason to maintain the order of free trade comes from those who are not so lucky.
The most important consequences of the continuous rise in protectionist barriers are that low -income countries will be more difficult to use trade as a growth engine, which is also at least discussed.This will weaken the material prospects of the poorest people in the world and slow down from generation to generations of children to get rid of the lack of life. In the West, such poverty has become a gradually disappearing memory.If international trade shrinks under the impact of populist passion and chaotic analysis, it is indeed a kind of misfortune for rich countries.But for other countries in the world, it will be a tragedy.
