Why didn’t anyone blog about this article by Swaminathan Aiyar?

the language of economic diplomacy at WTO is highly misleading. When a country lifts a ban on imports, its negotiators at WTO claim it is a sacrifice. In fact the supposed sacrifice is a huge gain to consumers, who can now buy something that was not available earlier (save through smugglers).

Similarly, when a country agrees to lower its import duties at WTO, negotiators claim they have made a sacrifice. Yet, this enables consumers to buy the same item at a lower price. What diplomats call a sacrifice is actually a gain for ordinary citizens.

Why do economic negotiators of all countries use such crazy language? Are they ignorant of economics, or devoid of common sense? No, not at all. But at international negotiations they act on the unstated but dubious assumption that public interest lies in increasing the profits of their producers rather than in reducing prices for consumers. You might think that country negotiators would speak for the masses rather than corporates, especially socialist ones. Yet socialist countries (like India during the licence-permit raj) have always been at the helm of sacrificing consumers at the altar of producer interests. And all in the name of the poor!