Willsherlyne Beaubrun

Professor Steffen Guenzel

ENC 1102
March 3rd , 2020
Rhetorical Analysis of: “How US Crop Dumping Keeps Haiti poor and Dependent”

My research that I am trying to do is the benefits of international trade on a developing

country’s economy (Haiti). The research question that I chose is, Is it possible for international trade to
pull a country out of poverty in a relatively “short” amount of time? For this response I chose the article
“How US Crop Dumping Keeps Haiti poor and Dependent” which was published by the Foundation for
Economic Education. Since my research is heavily based on the economy of different countries, this
information, I would consider, is credible and useful to my paper. It was also published by Michael
Kastner who is an economist and research fellow at the Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy
University. Michael Kastner is an economist and his whole field of study deals with the economy of
different countries and how the economy affects the country. Kastner claims that the action of disposing
of excess products/ agriculture that the U.S. produces in a country that is suffering from an unstable
economy will only cause the economy to become dependent of aid even when they are not in a time of
crisis.

My research encompasses multiple countries; Thailand, Cambodia and Brazil, which are like
Haiti economically in order to cross reference the possible benefits of implementing stronger
international trade strategies. Overall, Kastner’s article adds on to the conversation that I have started
when it comes to what can be done to help developing countries economically in addition to increasing
international trade; decreasing the suffocation caused by unnecessary “aid” from first world nations.
The entirety of the article will add onto my research paper because crop dumping is one of the things
that forces nations to regress in many aspects but especially when it comes to things like international
trade. It is clear that there are many factors that play into a nation’s faltering -or already crumbled-
economy and crop dumping is not the only one as mentioned in the article, but it is certainly a factor
that can be overlooked no longer.

At the beginning of the article, it talks about what crop dumping is and how in 2016, America
was caught red handed crop dumping in Haiti- specifically peanuts- which of course suffocated the
economy even more due to the fact that it became competition for the already established peanut
industry and it’s farmers. The idea of crop dumping is getting rid of excess products produced in one
country by giving it to a country that’s in need and masking it as coming to an the “aid” of a struggling
nation. This along with persistent foreign aid by the U.S. continues to drown the economy, causing it to
struggle in maintaining already established industries or creating new ones. The article provides more
concrete information to further explain this form of economic hindrance on a country that already
struggles with international trade. This is a controversy that many know about and yet the problem is
still persistent.
 The purpose of this article is to provide information on one of the most overlooked reasons as
to why Haiti’s economy is still struggling to this day. Instead of being allowed to be a fair competitor in
the market that is international trade, it’s constantly be killed off by big competitors who provide
excessive “aid” which obviously destroys the economy from the inside. Without the opportunity to
develop their own business due to overwhelming crop dumping, Haiti’s economy will continue to suffer.
Although the article is short, it provides enough information to not only include in the research paper
but further investigate into this specific topic of crop dumping which helps to dive even deeper into this
whole idea of what international trade is/should be and how it could benefit underdeveloped countries
if fair trade was allowed by these big markets.

I believe that the publisher did not leave out information and remained unbiased even though
he was providing information on something bad that the U.S. did and continues to do. Finding this
article was not planned but it proved to be something great and important that I didn’t even think about
because I mostly wanted to focus on the benefits of international trade. It also helped me, like I
mentioned before, to delve deeper into the world of trade and how there are many different factors
that play into this. This article seems to be geared towards people who are interested in economy and
how it affects countries differently. And this topic is something that is very current in the world and
many understand how important it is to become more knowledgeable in foreign trade between
countries.

Since many people don’t realize how the U.S. and other countries like it purposely negatively
affect these countries – specifically Haiti in this case-, it provides a bit of insight into this dark world of
foreign affairs. The act of crop dumping continues to happen despite the negativity that’s surrounded
with this practice. The author provided clear details/examples of what his article was explaining which
made the information more palpable to anyone who could be reading it, regardless of whether they
have any knowledge of economy. At the end of the article, it talks about a possible solution to this
problem, wrapping up the article very nicely. Even though I already knew about this crop dumping
epidemic, it was still very insightful. I also want to make sure to include it in my actual research paper
since I know that there are going to be some people who believe that the reason for a country not
developing economically is due to their own lack of motivation to do so or that they are comfortable
with being poor. It’s very important that people know that the development of countries is dictated by
the countries who are already at the top, but of course there are other factors that do play into this as
well. In the end, I believe this article was very useful in expanding my thought process on my original
research question.

Works Cited

Kastner, M. (2017, March 14). How US Crop Dumping Keeps Haiti Poor and Dependent: Michael Kastner.
Retrieved February 17, 2020, from https://fee.org/articles/how-us-crop-dumping-keeps-haiti-poor-and-
dependent/