Essay on Cotton Subsidies: US and Brazil Battle It Out

During the time of the Civil War, there were slaves working on farmers, these slaves were not compensated for their labor and services and were producing cotton for a little to nothing cost. Since the Civil War, America has produced an immense amount of cotton and would export it to different parts of the world. America has also had enough workers to meet the exact supply and demand, which follows the demand policy. Correspondingly, the manifest destiny caused for cotton growers further west. Due to the cotton growers going further out west, cotton became easier to grow and easier to protect. These technological advancements simplified the process by which people were able to grow cotton and export it to China for the workers to create these shirts. There are now many subsidiary industries to cotton; industries are always producing new clothes every day. Due to this

“The increase in consumption of raw cotton has been rapid and steady for beyond all precedents in any other manufacturer” (Beckert, 86). The process of cotton has increased since the production had started and many places which could produce cotton, can no longer keep up with the demand that is being asked. The third main point is the expansion of cotton in other parts of the world, cotton was being grown everywhere. Brazil cotton first got to England in 1781 and surpassed Caribbean. “By the 1780s, slaves in the West Indies and South America . . . on world markets” (Beckert,94).

Growing up in my country, Peru, was a formative and great learning experience because as I grew into an adult and participated in the economy, I learned how Peru’s financial system worked as a nation exporting agricultural goods. Peru’s history as a great, fertile farmland country made it a huge partner for potential buyers all around the world; these countries could take advantage of the exotic and plentiful fruit and vegetable products. During the government of Peru’s ex-president Alberto Fujimori, Peru signed the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, in 2006 and became a big exporter of goods. 3 years later, after a great turnout, Peru signed another Free Trade Agreement with China and this came to be a fruitful trade partner

“By 1861, the start of the Civil War, Southern slave plantations supplied more than 80 percent of surging world demand for cotton. Britain alone bought one billion pounds, as did the rest of Europe and the United States.” 3 “The south, able to grow cotton very profitably at much lower price than ever before (or anywhere else), became the natural empire of King Cotton as the demand of the British and New England mills became insatiable.”4 The demand for cotton from England and New England prompted the expansion of cotton farms and plantations that eventually began pushing out the food-crops. Smaller food-crop farmers sold out to larger plantation owners creating a shortage of food growth. The South’s economy began to depend on the cotton crop.

Goods or services of Cuban origin may not be imported into the United States either directly or through third countries” (2001) . According to the Cuba Policy Foundation, the United States loses up to $4.84 billion annually in trade and exports alone (Pepper 2009) . The amount of money being disregarded because of now defunct reasons is radically lacking in logic. A simple repealing of the embargo would bring both the United States and Cuba great economic success.

The growth of the textile industry in Britain boosted the cotton sales in America. Textile industry was dependent on cotton and 75% of their cotton came from farms in the South(Dattel). The demand of cloth also affected the demand of cotton. The North needed cotton for their cloth and textile industry after it grew during the Industrial Revolution(Dattel). The War of 1812 caused Americans to start creating their own industries and goods after Britain cut off vital goods out of the United States. In this period of time, there was a huge demand for cotton as American citizens’ standard of living grew. Since there was a huge demand, farmers made a large profit. (Davidson, 312 and

[In 1830, the United States’ annual production of cotton was about 750,000 bales. By 1850, when Eli Whitney’s cotton gin had been widely adopted across the South, the amount of cotton produced rose to an incredible 2.85 million bales, the vast majority of the production of which was focused in the South. The efficiency of the gin increased the profitability associated with planting large amounts of cotton. The fact that the cotton gin allowed for much faster processing led to the establishment of enormous plantations in the southern United States. These plantations grew to sizes that would have been impossible to maintain prior to the introduction of the cotton

Cotton: used in the clothes worn today, but is that all there is to cotton? During the 1700s up to the late 1800s cotton was harvest by slaves. When someone puts on a cotton shirt on they most likely does not think about the past slaves who were forced and tortured and abused all for the cultivation of cotton, It’s essential to mention that slavery was on its way to a natural death during the late 1700s, since the enlightenment and the great awakening combined caused people to think about the inhumanity of slavery. The main factor, however, was the fact that cotton was a difficult crop to harvest. In fact, cotton was a tedious crop to deal with until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. This invention caused slavery to continue on several more years and this invention, although it seemed to benefit America at the time, has caused America to be behind with equal rights.

In 1830 America was producing half the world’s cotton supply, in just twenty years that number went up to nearly ¾ths of the world’s demand! The southern states economy was booming but at what cost? In the

Lastly, Rivoli explains that the cotton industry is “embedded in a set of institutions that insulate it from the full strength of a variety of market forces” (8). The cotton industry receives help and protection from the US government, universities and technology companies allowing it a level of protection not found in many other industries. In the second chapter, the author explores the history of the cotton industry.

This can be only done through affirmative action. The argument would be that if one of Brazil’s trading partners like the U.S or China were to set an ‘embargo’, the problem of human trafficking would disappear. An Embargo is an official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country. It would seem ideal to the subject at hand knowing the significance of Brazil’s exporting market to its economy. However, this solution is not as easy as it sounds. One of the earliest examples of failure through this plan is the Embargo Act of 1807.(www.boundless.com) An article about the historical time period in the U.S, at the commencement of the  nation’s independence, it was still a relatively developing economy and had to take affirmative action when England and France has a continuous war that had potential effects on the global trade market. The Embargo Act of 1807 prohibited all foreign commerce in order to bring peace amongst the foreign powers Great Britain and France. This act of sovereignty caused the U.S to go through an economic deceleration and nothing was resolved in the outcome.  A more recent example is the embargo between the U.S and Cuba in the 1960’s. According to (cuba-embargo.procon.org/) this situation has cost Cubans the ‘access to technology, medicine, affordable food, and other goods that could be available to them if the United States lifted the embargo.’  hurting the U.S  economy as well. An embargo may have a good purpose and could spark controversy into the resolution of labor exploitation, but it hasn’t been proven to work under our international trade system which relies so vitally on each other’s

The cotton gin fulfilled its goal and led to great economic success in America. Immediately after the invention, the southern states began producing more cotton than anywhere else in the world. With one person operating the gin, ten times more cotton could be produced than when the cotton was being picked and separated without a gin, and nearly 50 pounds could be harvested in a day by just a few slaves (Hamner). American cotton production increased by 800% in the next decade after the invention of the cotton gin (Aboukhadijeh). The United States could produce enormous amounts of cotton every day and sell it to England, and also maintain enough to manufacture their own textiles (Cotton NY Times). At this spectacular rate, America was producing

The American South is undoubtedly known for cotton when referring to agriculture. While it clearly and quickly became the dominant crop in the South and even the United States as a whole, cotton was not immediately as much of a cash crop as it was a burden. Originally, cotton was hard to cultivate, taking long periods of time to collect and even longer to prepare for the manufacturing process. Not until Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin in 1793 and patented in 1794, and the discovery of a better strain of cotton in the Lower South did cotton production become a viable business on a large scale. King Cotton, as it came to be called, created an explosion in production in the southern economy. This economic boon brought the South, traditionally viewed as rural and backward, to the forefront of the economic picture of the entire United States of America. At the height of the cotton boom during the antebellum era, agricultural production from the South made up a surprisingly significant portion of national exports. Such large amounts of production and national dependence on Southern agricultural resources gave rise to a Southern position of power on the national scale. As a result of the South emerging as a regional power, increased political influence and importance provides the opportunity to protect and prolong the lifestyle of the Old South. Without the

Supporters of the legislation believe that prohibiting foreign investment will quicken Castro’s downfall. (Close Up Foundation) Many debate on the issue of why the U.S. should or shouldn’t keep the ebargo against Cuba. These debates deal with the effects of the Embargo on Cuba’s economy, humanitarian rights and health of the people of Cuba. The embargo today places a ban on subsidiary trade, Licensing, shipping and humanitarian aid. (Close Up Foundation) In 1992, the Cuban Democracy act imposed a ban on subsidiary trade with Cuba. This ban restricted Cuba’s ability to import medicines and medical supplies from third country sources. There have also been corporate buy-outs and mergers between U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies thus adding to the number of companies permitted to do business with Cuba. Under the Cuban Democracy Act, The U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments are allowed to license individual sales of medicines and medical supplies, supposedly for humanitarian reasons to make up for the embargo’s impact on health care delivery. According to the U.S. corporate executives, the licensing provisions are so tough as to have had the opposite effect. With this statement, it is assumed that there are fewer licenses given out for humanitarian reason therefore favoring the embargo and aiding in the downfall of health in Cuba. Since 1992, the embargo has prohibited ships from loading or unloading cargo in U.S. ports for 180 days after

With the elimination of U.S. government subsidies, cotton textile manufacturers will pay more for cotton. As the leading buyer of cotton, the Chinese apparel industry’s profitability will be reduced due to their inability to pass on increased cotton prices to their buyers. China’s manufacturing costs had already increased by as much as 40% due to higher market wages and costs with complying with worker and environmental protections. Although China has substantial labor and is accused of utilizing sweat shops to keep their costs extremely low, their increasing manufacturing costs have opened the door to other countries with cheap labor such as Vietnam and Pakistan.