Since October is Fair Trade Month I thought it was a perfect time to write about an important topic - Fair Trade vs. Free Trade.  I often hear people refer to fair trade as free trade, assuming the two are one and the same. Fair trade and free trade are actually quite different in both intent and execution. With the presidential election around the corner one of the hot topics lately has been trade. For example, the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the latest proposed trade agreement, involving 12 nations in Asia and the Americas.  

The Fair Trade Federation, our membership organization, recently published this chart that illustrates the difference between these 2 types of trade.   

Hopefully this will clarify some of the confusion around this issue.  The graphic below is another wonderful illustration of what fair trade is all about so I wanted to share that too. And I'm always available to answer questions or talk more about this topic that I am so passionate about.