Duties and Tarriffs 101
One of the biggest most contentious issues discussed in the DOHA round of trade talks is the idea that rich countries lowering their protective duties and tarriffs would help nurture trade in Africa. Kenya is not considered by my government to be MOST VULNERABLE NATION that enjoy lower duties like the USA I suppose and that whole free trade explosion we are supposed to be living under. And this is why China of course has turned into such a fashion superstar in our policy efforts to save the Asian Crisis the world is now flooded with t-shirts and porcelain and running shoes MADE IN CHINA.
It's funny because when I was a kid I remember looking at the underside of things and always seeing MADE IN TAIWAN. I guess in the 70's there was some sort of manufacturing boom there before the curtain was dropped and Shanghai rose again.
This is why Kenya is positioned so well for the future - they like so few African countries who have a port which is second in size to that of Durban in South Africa I believe. So the 300 million people who make up East Africa can get their goods out at least and on their way to a more lucrative albeit costly foreign economy like Canada.
Our products, HANDMADE RECYCLED T-SHIRTS that employs Kenyans and gets kids into school enjoys the highest of all Canadian duties under category 6109 10 00 22 - t-shirts/unisex/cotton - 18% on manufactured value and 6% GST on top of both of those amounts. The main reason I keep strategizing to eventually export in the USA is that I have been told and am trying to find out that textile imports into that land are 0% thanks to the EPZ's Condeleeza helped to build. I also think that the military base in the North Eastern part of the country might have something to do with it - free trade for those who sympathise with our national agendas.
As I budget for these duties and email the paperwork to the studio I wonder what life would be like in a world with no borders. If there were no more nations but collections of communities trading and living and eating completely based on choice and convenience. Wouldn't we be better off really? What is all this nationalism doing for us as a global community anway? It's like a membership to a privileged club - what you really pay for besides clean towels and a great view is the knowlege that other people are kept out.
Global trade really is just another club. And as we build the business model the club we join will be the one that wants to trade with Kenya and South Africa and Sierra Leone. Who are those people and what colour of t-shirts do they like to wear? When I sent those disposable cameras to Kenya in July of 2004 I never imagined I would be calculating textiles duties into the wee hours of the night in order to get my point across. But that's the small task of what making a difference truly is about. It's not the grand sweeping press conferences and promises - it's the small letters at the bottom of confusing legal documents that hold more power over us than we realize. How some of us get rich and why others of us grow poor without ever really understanding the impact of other people's decisions.
I was watching Christiane Amanpour sniff out Bin Laden tonight and it occured to me that muslims and arabs and fundamentalist terrorists might actually speak and use the Swahili language as it was borne off the Saudi Peninsula. What would they think when the saw our declaration to SHINDA with African kids? I think they might actually love it and if there were no import duties into Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Sudan could this be a market for us? I would imagine I would have some explaining to do next time I crossed at Peace Arch on my way to the outlet mall on Exit 202 North of Seattle. Didn't we see Osama wearing one your shirts Miss Standfield? Of course he would look good in our tones of coffee and tea and maybe sky blue to go with his eyes. He gets his Kalashnikov's from somewhere and all those white Toyotas.
Eleanor Roosevelt said 'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams'. What on earth is the world going to look like in 20 years from now? Who has the most beautiful dreams? Who will want to help us SHINDA?
Lala Salama. I go to sleep dreading the possibility my new t-shirt silkscreener is going out of business with all 25 of our new samples locked behind his doors.
It's funny because when I was a kid I remember looking at the underside of things and always seeing MADE IN TAIWAN. I guess in the 70's there was some sort of manufacturing boom there before the curtain was dropped and Shanghai rose again.
This is why Kenya is positioned so well for the future - they like so few African countries who have a port which is second in size to that of Durban in South Africa I believe. So the 300 million people who make up East Africa can get their goods out at least and on their way to a more lucrative albeit costly foreign economy like Canada.
Our products, HANDMADE RECYCLED T-SHIRTS that employs Kenyans and gets kids into school enjoys the highest of all Canadian duties under category 6109 10 00 22 - t-shirts/unisex/cotton - 18% on manufactured value and 6% GST on top of both of those amounts. The main reason I keep strategizing to eventually export in the USA is that I have been told and am trying to find out that textile imports into that land are 0% thanks to the EPZ's Condeleeza helped to build. I also think that the military base in the North Eastern part of the country might have something to do with it - free trade for those who sympathise with our national agendas.
As I budget for these duties and email the paperwork to the studio I wonder what life would be like in a world with no borders. If there were no more nations but collections of communities trading and living and eating completely based on choice and convenience. Wouldn't we be better off really? What is all this nationalism doing for us as a global community anway? It's like a membership to a privileged club - what you really pay for besides clean towels and a great view is the knowlege that other people are kept out.
Global trade really is just another club. And as we build the business model the club we join will be the one that wants to trade with Kenya and South Africa and Sierra Leone. Who are those people and what colour of t-shirts do they like to wear? When I sent those disposable cameras to Kenya in July of 2004 I never imagined I would be calculating textiles duties into the wee hours of the night in order to get my point across. But that's the small task of what making a difference truly is about. It's not the grand sweeping press conferences and promises - it's the small letters at the bottom of confusing legal documents that hold more power over us than we realize. How some of us get rich and why others of us grow poor without ever really understanding the impact of other people's decisions.
I was watching Christiane Amanpour sniff out Bin Laden tonight and it occured to me that muslims and arabs and fundamentalist terrorists might actually speak and use the Swahili language as it was borne off the Saudi Peninsula. What would they think when the saw our declaration to SHINDA with African kids? I think they might actually love it and if there were no import duties into Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Sudan could this be a market for us? I would imagine I would have some explaining to do next time I crossed at Peace Arch on my way to the outlet mall on Exit 202 North of Seattle. Didn't we see Osama wearing one your shirts Miss Standfield? Of course he would look good in our tones of coffee and tea and maybe sky blue to go with his eyes. He gets his Kalashnikov's from somewhere and all those white Toyotas.
Eleanor Roosevelt said 'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams'. What on earth is the world going to look like in 20 years from now? Who has the most beautiful dreams? Who will want to help us SHINDA?
Lala Salama. I go to sleep dreading the possibility my new t-shirt silkscreener is going out of business with all 25 of our new samples locked behind his doors.
posted by Sue Stanfield at 10:53 PM
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