…there was silence. The U.S. Fair Trade movement as we knew it ended on New Year’s Day, when FTUSA’s split from FLO took effect and its new certification went live. But a week after the dawn of the FT4All era, there have been no official statements of any kind from Fair Trade USA, or new public commitments to its new certification by licensees. Opponents of FT4All, however, are making their voices heard.
Fair Trade pioneer Equal Exchange today published a briefing on the current state of Fair Trade in the United States and invited supporters to sign a petition reaffirming the values that drive its cooperative-based trading model.
Equal’s statement is the latest salvo from the Fair Trade pioneer community and adds to the growing number of pronouncements against Fair Trade for All, including:
- CLAC, the Latin American and Caribbean Small Producers Fair Trade Network (CLAC) – published
- Red Café – the Coffee Network of CLAC
- CAN, the Alliance of Fair Trade Producer Networks which encompasses CLAC, the African Fair Trade Network and the Network of Asian Producers