Unfair Trade? An Indictment of the Anti-Robin Hood Economy

Preamble: The Victim Narrative

For years now, we've heard it repeated like gospel from political pulpits — "America has been treated unfairly." A refrain weaponized by former and current leaders, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump, who routinely blames other nations for the so-called decline of American manufacturing and economic sovereignty. Trade deficits, he says, are the result of predatory foreign powers and global organizations taking advantage of America’s benevolence and openness.

It’s a compelling story, simple enough for a campaign rally and incendiary enough for a cable news chyron. But it’s not just misleading. It is — in this author’s opinion — a grotesque misrepresentation of reality. One that ignores decades of intentional policy decisions made not by foreign governments, but by America itself. This isn’t unfair trade. This is a crisis born of greed, short-term thinking, and the commodification of human life in the name of cheap goods.

This is not a tragedy visited upon America. This is a tragedy created by America.

Exhibit A: The Offshoring of Manufacturing — A Willful Exodus

Beginning in the 1970s and accelerating through the 1990s, the U.S. — along with Canada and other Western economies — began systematically offshoring its manufacturing base. Labor-intensive industries were dismantled and relocated to developing nations where wages were lower, safety and environmental regulations looser, and accountability almost non-existent. This wasn't theft. It was a business strategy.

According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the U.S. lost over 3.4 million jobs to China alone between 2001 and 2017, largely due to corporate decisions to exploit cheaper labor markets (EPI, 2018).

Why? Because Western consumers wanted more for less. T-shirts for $2. Shoes and Jeans for $15. Electronics at rock-bottom prices. And U.S. corporations, driven by shareholder demands and market competition, were happy to oblige — regardless of the human or environmental cost. And why not? After all, isn’t the ultimate purpose of a corporation — as it’s so often claimed — to maximize shareholder value, no matter the human cost?

Exhibit B: The Human Cost — Tragedies We Pretend Not to See

In 2012, a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killed 112 garment workers — mostly young women — trapped behind locked exits. They were making clothes for Walmart, Disney, and other Western brands.

In 2013, the Rana Plaza collapse killed 1,134 more. The building was visibly unsafe, but workers were told they'd lose their jobs if they didn't show up.

These aren’t isolated incidents — and how quickly they are forgotten. Forgotten by consumers. Forgotten by brands. Forgotten by us all. They are symptoms of a systemic disease: an "anti-Robin Hood" economy that steals from the poor to fatten the margins of the rich.

These workers died, as have so many others before them and after them, to feed the West’s insatiable appetite for “fast fashion” and cheap consumer goods — an appetite cultivated, enabled, and protected by Western supply chain decisions.

And then, when the consequences arrive, we have the gall to say we’ve been wronged?

Exhibit C: The Environment — Another Silent Victim

The Global South doesn’t just absorb our manufacturing jobs — it absorbs our pollution. China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and India all rank among the most polluted countries on Earth, in no small part due to the dirty industrial processes exported there from the West.

As reported by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), nearly 80% of global wastewater is discharged into the environment untreated — and a substantial portion comes from textile manufacturing (UNEP, 2021).

In pursuit of profits, the West exported its smog, its toxins, and its waste — then blamed the recipient countries for their environmental failures. That’s not unfair trade. That’s moral cowardice.

Exhibit D: Canada Is Complicit Too

Lest this sound like finger-pointing from the North, (and we've had every reason to do that recently), let me be clear: Canada is equally complicit. Our shelves are stocked with goods manufactured under similar conditions. We have celebrated "globalization" while ignoring the underlying inequity. We have prioritized convenience over conscience. And just like our southern neighbors, we have failed to ask, "At what cost?"

Final Statement: This Is Not Unfair Trade. This Is the Consequence of Our Choices.

If there is injustice in today’s global trade system, it is not injustice visited upon America. It is injustice visited by America — and by Canada — upon the rest of the world. It is the inequality baked into every low-cost item we buy without asking who made it, how, and under what conditions.

The problem is not globalization. The problem is unethical globalization.

The solution isn’t tariffs or walls. It’s transparency, responsibility, and a collective reckoning with the true cost of our consumption habits. I think that as corporations pull back the blinds and see the true cost of outsourcing at the lowest cost... the human and environmental... they will have some tough decisions to make.

Until then, we wear the blood of others on our backs, our feet, and in our closets — all while outrageously claiming to be the victims. Really?

Rod Morgan

Founder, RPM-Academy

Personal Editorial – April 2025

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