Letter: Global South Leery of U.S. Double Standards on Trade

Rana Foroohar makes an excellent point in her FT column “Seeing eye to eye with the global south” (Opinion, April 23) on the global south’s dismay at US double standards when it comes to trade.

For decades, Washington and its core allies in Europe railed against attempts by developing countries to support their own infant industries through subsidies and other measures. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, the US is emerging as the biggest purveyor of domestic champions, created through heavy state backing.

Now, there is nothing wrong in a state using trade in ways that benefits its people, and the belated prioritising of the American worker by the Biden administration is a good thing. However, the new paradigm comes with intrusive practices, packaged under the label of environmental and labour standards.