The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The

Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp

Introduction:
Free trade is meant to eliminate unfair barriers to global commerce and raise the
economy in developed and developing nations alike. But free trade can – and has –
produced many negative effects, in particular deplorable working conditions, job loss,
economic damage to some countries, and environmental damage globally. Yet, the
World Trade Organization continues to advocate for free and unfettered trade, much to
the detriment of some national economies and millions of workers.

RoadMAP:
My roadmap for today’s debate will to be first refuting the opponent’s case, and then
move on to impacting our points and weighing today’s debate.

RefSheet:
The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The Economies
Of Member Countries Ref Sheet

Impact Calc:
I will now move on to impact our team’s points.
1. Our first point was that free trade promotes monopolization.
a. Developing industries don’t have a chance because now, big industries
can take up more ground. They have all of the money, investments,
and land. So, they can then monopolize the entire industry.
i. Monopolization is bad because then this company can price their
items at whatever price they want, and the people will be forced
to buy them because there is no other alternative. This can turn
dangerous, for example, if a medicine company or a food
company starts hiking their prices.
ii. They also no longer have to provide top-of-the-line products
anymore. They can be cheap knockoffs, and the public has no
choice but to pay for that.
1. The problems with monopolies go beyond the economic
effects. Many large, economically powerful companies also
The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The
Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp
have considerable political influence and the ability to
"capture" the political and regulatory process. This allows a
powerful firm to tilt the legal and regulatory processes
against any potential threat to its market power, and to
bring about changes that further enhance the profits it
earns.
2. It can get health and safety regulations removed, have
licensing requirements imposed that make it harder for new
firms to enter a market, avoid state sales taxes for online
retailers, or get invited to speak at congressional hearings
on matters such as immigration and corporate taxation.
3. Monopolies and highly concentrated corporations also
have the power to prevent entrepreneurs from launching
new companies. As African markets have become more
concentrated since the late 1970s, the per capita rate of
new business formation has dropped in half. Today, there
are not enough new businesses to replace those that fail,
leaving Africa with many fewer jobs than it would
otherwise have.
4. Monopolies also cause wage suppression, because there
is only one company and that company can do whatever it
wants.
a. This influences wage suppression, which would only
increase the income inequality gap even further
because people are not getting paid as much.
i. To put this into more concrete terms, consider
the market for nurses. The median wage for a
nurse is about $68,000. Given what we know
about the labor market power of medical
institutions, the true competitive wage for a
nurse would be at least $90,000, possibly as
much as $200,000.
ii. However, because most areas have few
hospitals, they can suppress nurses’ wages
The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The
Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp
without worrying that nurses will move to a
rival hospital. Some nurses will drop out of the
labor market entirely, but the hospital still
earns a greater profit by shrinking its operation
and cutting wages dramatically
1. “The main mechanism through which
inequality affects growth is by
undermining education opportunities
for children from poor socio-economic
backgrounds, lowering social mobility
and hampering skills development,” the
OECD found. Children from the bottom
40 percent of households (a huge chunk
of the population) are missing out on
pricey educational opportunities. That
makes them less productive employees,
which means lower wages, which
means lower overall participation in the
economy.
2. In 2014 the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development found
that rising inequality in the United
States from 1990 to 2010 knocked
about five percentage points off
cumulative GDP per capita over that
period. Similar effects were seen in
other countries.
a. According to the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics, two out of every
five displaced manufacturing
workers who were rehired in
2016 experienced a wage
reduction. One out of every four
displaced manufacturing workers
 The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The
Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp
took a pay cut of greater than 20
percent.17 For the average
worker earning the median
manufacturing wage of $39,500
per year, this meant an annual
loss of at least $7,900.
iii. Monopolies would also hurt small farms, which is 60% of the
AFRICAN economy. Because the subsidies are not available
because of free trade, these small farms prices suddenly
become too high compared to that of an agribusiness.
1. Areas having more small farms have lower poverty and
unemployment rates, higher average household incomes,
and greater socioeconomic stability. When small family
farms disappear, main streets become less active, fewer
retail businesses can survive, and less money is spent in the
community. While it seems counterintuitive, large
agribusinesses are associated with lower incomes, more
poverty. and economic inequality.
2. Our second point was that there would be job losses and bad working
conditions, as a result of free trade.
a. Outsourcing jobs in developing countries can become a trend with a free
trade area. Because many countries lack labor protection laws,
especially in Africa, workers may be forced to work in unhealthy and
substandard work environments.
i. This is bad because the International Labor Organization says that
over 2.3 MILLION people die EACH YEAR as a result of working in
these substandard conditions. With the total net GDP of the
African trade area being over $3 TRILLION, comprising of around 1
BILLION people, and over 68 MILLION people in poverty.
1. The International Labor Organization ALSO ESTIMATES
that enacting the free trade agreement would destroy a
net of 850,000 jobs over 20 years.
 The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The
Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp
ii. And as more jobs are lost over a large timeframe, the economy
would slowly go down, because there are fewer people in the
workforce, and that makes in the income disparity only grow.
b. Also, there would be environmental harms by enacting a free trade area.
i. These have long-term impacts that will come back to bite the
economy.
ii. Developing countries will have more pollution after an FTA
because of their lax environmental regulations, as polluting
industries will relocate from countries with strict environmental
regulations to developing countries.
1. In addition, expanded trade tends to increase the scale of
production for the world as a whole, meaning that the total
volume of pollution and environmental damage is likely to
increase. Trade also necessarily involves energy use for
transportation, with resulting air pollution and other
environmental impacts.
2. Economic growth resulting from trade expansion can have
an obvious direct impact on the environment by increasing
pollution or degrading natural resources.
a. Much early trade was commodity-based— trade in
fish, agriculture, timber, and other raw materials all
caused exporting countries to increase their
exploitation of the natural environment beyond the
level that would have occurred to satisfy local
consumption demand.
3. Our third point was that there would be reduced tax revenue
a. Many smaller countries would struggle to replace lost revenue lost
from the tariffs and fees that would be removed as a result of free
trade.
i. This tax money would usually go to government subsidies
(cotton) which is popular in Africa, and suddenly it’s gone. Then
the government can no longer use this extra revenue to keep
their local businesses relevant and also would stunt
 The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The
Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp
infrastructure development, which leads to a poorer quality of
life.
1. Higher tax revenues mean a country is able to spend
more to improve infrastructure, health, and
education—keys to the long-term prospects for a
country's economy and people.
a. Africa as a whole would be losing about 40
BILLION USD per YEAR as a result of tariffs being
eliminated, also would be losing control of quotas
which can help prevent another nation’s company
take over the local companies and stunting
economic growth in the process.
b. Taxes on goods and services were on average the
greatest source of tax revenue for African countries,
at 51.9 percent of total tax revenues in 2018. VAT
contributed on average 29.7 percent, making it the
most important tax on goods and services.
i. This money would be lost as a result of free
trade, further supporting our claim that
would give rise to monopolization because
subsidies are now outlawed.
ii.
Now moving on to weighing the debate
1. Judge, we should win on scope BECAUSE our impacts would affect all of the
small farms, whose exports account for over 60% of the African economy (over
$1 trillion USD) as a whole, whose existence would be in question after a free
trade would be enacted. And as we have proven, their disappearance from the
African economy is a detrimental blow that will be very hard to come back from.
2. And judge, we should also win on timeframe because all of these impacts
would happen immediately after government influence was removed. The prop’s
impacts would only happen after a while.
3. Finally, we should win on magnitude because our impacts would severely
impact the African economy and also force monopolization, which is further
detrimental to the success of the free trade area. Taxes on goods and services
 The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement Will Be Good For The
Economies Of Member Countries 3rd Speaker Opp
were on average the greatest source of tax revenue for African countries, at 51.9
percent of total tax revenues in 2018.
Once again my name is and you should vote Opp on today’s debate. Thank you.