The Potato-shaped Loophole In Free Trade Flashcards
- untapped market
- major exception
- a trade loophole
- free trade agreement
- sharecropper
- commissioner
- a pat of butter
- floodgate
- (border) checkpoint
- border region
- ulterior motive
- quarantine
- non-tariff barrier
- blight
- a panel of
- injunction against
- (appointed) post
- saga
- market share
- trade deal
- invasive species
- international trade consultant
- globalization
- a new type of crops, potato crops
- DMZ (demilitarized zone)
- trade food fights
- market access
- interest group
- shipping facilities
- (worldwide) frenzy
- agricultural products
- invasive species
- economic protectionism
- precaution
- legal maneuvers
- negotiating table
- absurdity
- contention
- dispute
- ruling on …
- food sources
- agenda
- afterthought
- forefront
- technicality
contention: 1. a strong opinion that someone expresses, somebody’s contention 2. argument and disagreement between people, The issue of hunting is a point/source/area of contention
injunction: an order given by a court, which tells someone not to do something
floodgate: 1. a gate that is used to control the flow of water from a large lake or river 2. if something opens the floodgates, or if the floodgates open, it suddenly becomes possible for a lot of things to happen which were prevented from happening before
blight: 1. an unhealthy condition of plants in which parts of them dry up and die 2. something that makes people unhappy or that spoils their lives or the environment they live in
a blight on her happiness
the blight of poverty
A place that, in fact, the entire American potato industry has been desperate to access. It’s a vast, untapped market right on our doorstep.
Ever since free trade opened up between the US and Mexico in the 1990s, trillions of dollars of good have been going back and forth between the two countries.
His whole world revolves around this place.
Over the course of three generations,
How many times are you going to get a great marketplace that has a high population base that has never had US potatoes, for most part?
Those are the potatoes that Brian thinks could grow big in Mexico.
It was kind of the beginning of the worldwide frenzy over globalization.
NAFTA opened the floodgate to goods moving across the US border.
As part of NAFTA, Mexico agreed to totally open up the market to fresh American potatoes.
Free trade is never quite as simple as flipping a switch and now that two countries are trading. In case of plants and agricultural products, there is the problem of invasive species.
Matt was hired by American potato farmers to help lobby for their interests in these tricky negotiations.
They really want to find customers that are close by. Which is why they’re so excited at the idea of sending potatoes to Mexico.
It’s a perfect fit for the food I like.
Right after NAFTA, as US fresh potatoes are going to Mexico, this problem starts to emerge.
They are running into the kind of same problem.
So it was like, it was a little founded.
Oh yeah, there is a strong basis for this.
These were legitimate concerns.
well founded: based on facts or good reason
Just two years after NAFTA went into effect, Mexico government basically put a halt to US potato shipments. Said, any American potatoes, they are limited to this special 16-mile region along the border.
Eventually they agree on protocols for inspections and some other precautions.
They also recognized that in order to open up trade, they’re each going to have to take on a certain amount of risk.
US potatoes are having a much harder time getting into Mexico. They kept failing Mexico’s inspections.
The Mexico was looking for these pests a lot harder than we were.
They are turning back hundreds of American potato shipments.
For this very reason, they say that the DMZ, it is staying in the place.
It does sound like, it’s not really about the pests in the first place.
The Mexican potato farmer are understandably upset at the prospect of all these American russets coming in and taking over their market.
They could push the government to make a big fuss about pests as a scheme to stall for time to keep the American competition at bay.
Behind the scene, Con papa had been urging the Mexican government to really take these potato pests seriously.
stall: to deliberately delay because you are not ready to do something, answer questions etc
keep/hold something at bay: to prevent something dangerous or unpleasant from happening or from coming too close
As free trade was taking off in 1990s, more and more countries were using these kinds of pest concerns as a pretext to protect their own farmers from competition.
These pest regulations, which were supposed to be about science and plant health, were turning into a sneaky form of economic protectionism.
Quarantine issues were becoming a new way, non-tariff barrier, the new way of keeping any product you didn’t want in your country.
That would prevent market access.
Here was a huge loophole built into basically every free trade agreement. Because every country has a right to keep our products that might carry invasive pests or diseases.
It’s a totally legitimate reason to shut down trade entirely.
Countries were accusing each other of playing games with pest regulations.
The best example of the absurdity of this situation has to do with that Columbia root knot nematode, that little worm that Mexico kept making a big deal about in the US potato shipments.
make a big deal about/of/out of something
It seems pretty hypocritical.
When the US and Mexico were negotiating NAFTA, they kind of anticipated that pest concerns could become a point of contention.
So they designated an organization to help resolve these kind of dispute. In 2011, the two countries agreed it’s time to call them in.
contention: a strong opinion that someone expresses
Why don’t we have some objective potato experts listen to both of our arguments and then make a ruling on who’s right?
You’re going to take this to potato court.
It’s just a panel of three scientists.
The both sides would make their case, and the three judges would then do the review.
make a case for something: to argue that something is the best thing to do, giving your reason
review: a careful examination of a situation or process
The judges come back with their rulings.
The risks they posed were fairly minimal.
pose a risk/danger/threat
The Mexican potato industry files injunctions to immediately stop all shipments to keep us out.
injunction: an official order given by a court, usually to stop someone from doing something
He started a new appointed post as a federal judge in a potato growing region of Mexico.
Con papa is to Mexico what National Potato Council is to us, a group that represents the interests of Mexican potato farmers.
In 2014, when they lost that battle, they threw a final Hail Mary.
They claimed that the Mexico government had violated their rights to a healthy environment and food sources when it agreed to let in American potatoes.
They go before Judge Jose and ask him to use his power to block the US potatoes from entering the country.
if something goes before a judge, group of people in authority etc, they consider it before making a decision
It was kind of out-there.
unusual, extreme
Some of their ideas are totally out-there.
He saw the desperation of all these farmers and business owners who were pleading with him.
plead with somebody to do something
This is classic interest group politics.
Free trade has this way of creating winners and losers. The winners tend to be consumers who get access to cheaper goods. The losers tend to be local industries who get crowed out, outcompeted.
crowd somebody / something out: to force someone or something out of a place or situation
Subject foreign crops to endless process of bureaucratic inspections and risk assessments and pilot projects.
subject something / somebody to something: to force someone or something to experience something very unpleasant, especially over a long time
Well, in the grand scheme of things, economists like to say the benefits of the trade outweigh the cost. But for the losers, it doesn’t always feel that way.
in the (grand) scheme of things: considering everything
When these groups are politically organized, they can make things happen.
Their legal maneuvers bought them another seven years.
The Mexican Supreme Court unanimously overturned Jose’s decision.
The Americans and the Mexicans are back at the negotiating table.
My career has sort of intertwined and the pathway has kind of gone along with the potato saga in one shape or form.
He came up with this diplomatic strategy for this potato negotiation. A big part of it, essentially, was whenever Mexico and America would talk about anything, like anything at all, they would also had to talk about potatoes.
It meant ensuring that all agencies, when they are having discussions with the Mexican government, always put the potato at the front of every agenda.
This was a conscious thing. This wasn’t like an afterthought. The potato kind of got to move up to the forefront then.
This has been one of the longest running, most complex trade sage in modern times.
It gives you a window into how free trade actually works.
Free trade is subject to a complex system of rules and technicalities, rules about pests, rules about safety standards and labeling requirements.
Because free trade inevitably creates those winners and losers, technical rules have a way of becoming political.
It is possible for everyone to maybe come out a winner.
Avocado farmers in California are livid.
extremely angry
Americans became obsessed with avocados. Avocado consumption tripled.
They are complimentary. They can coexist.
The potato varieties are different. I don’t think we’re taking away market share from domestic growers. We’re growing the market in general by introducing new products and new varieties that haven’t been there before.
Some of the potatoes, at long last, are bound for Mexico.
bound for: travelling towards a particular place or in a particular direction
a plane bound for Somalia
homeward-bound (=travelling towards home) commuters
We tried to get seats on a Rome-bound flight.
- stall for time
- urge
- lobby for/against
- designate
- intertwine
- coexist
- overturn decision/ verdict
- plead for sth, plead with sb
- turn back
- call sth/sb in
- go before sb/sth
- crowd out
- subject sb/sth to sth
stall: to deliberately delay because you are not ready to do something, answer questions etc
crowd out: to force someone or something out of a place or situation
call sb/sth in: to ask someone to come and help you with a difficult situation
if something goes before a judge, group of people in authority etc, they consider it before making a decision
- prevent market access
- open up (free) trade
- shut down trade
- take on (a certain amount of) risk
- strong basis
- resolve dispute
- do a review
- pose a risk/danger/threat to
- violate sb’s rights to …
- take away market share from …
- make a fuss of/over sth/sb
- make a fuss about sth
- put a halt to
- keep/hold sth at bay
- have a hard time doing sth
- play games with sb
- make a big deal of/about/out of sth
- make a case for sth
- throw a final Hail Mary
- in the (grand) scheme of things
make a fuss of/over: to pay a lot of attention to someone or something, to show that you are pleased with them or like them
keep/hold sth at bay: to prevent something dangerous or unpleasant from happening or from coming too close
play games with sb: to behave in a dishonest or unfair way in order to get what you want
make a case for sth: to argue that something is the best thing to do, giving your reason
in the (grand) scheme of things: considering everything
- understandable
- sneaky
- hypocritical
- minimal
- out-there
- bureaucratic
- unanimous
- obsessed
- inevitable
- complimentary
unusual, extreme
