Clinton Admits to a "Devil's Bargain" in Haiti

A few months back, I wrote about how subsidized rice that was grown in the United States and exported to Haiti essentially killed Haiti's agricultural sector and ultimately led to rampant starvation and food riots. Never in a million years would I have imagined that former President Bill Clinton, special envoy to Haiti and the man who implemented the trade policies that did the damage, would own up to the error. But he did.

At a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, Clinton emphatically reversed his stance on exporting subsidized food to poor countries, saying that the trade policy had failed. The former President said of the US policy: "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked. It was a mistake. It was a mistake that I was a party to. I am not pointing the finger at anybody. I did that. I have to live every day with the consequences of the lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people, because of what I did."

I'd say that's kind of a big deal. Democracy Now! was able to interview Clinton on his views of the trade policies that eviscerated farms in developing countries, and found that he believes the policies have "failed everywhere they've been tried."

One more quote, because I'm having trouble believing the former president known as Slick Willie could really come this clean:

"We genuinely thought we were helping Haiti when we restored President Aristide, made a commitment to help rebuild the infrastructure through the Army Corps of Engineers there, and do a lot of other things. And we made this devil’s bargain on rice. And it wasn’t the right thing to do. We should have continued to work to help them be self-sufficient in agriculture."

Seriously? I'm not making it up! In order to support that sort of agricultural self-sufficiency, Haiti's government and foreign experts are meeting in New York for a donor's conference that will stress the need to rebuild the country's agricultural sector in a sustainable way.

Just to add one more fascinating dynamic to the mix, it turns out that many of the U.S. farmers who supply that rice aren't making much money either. Several farmers have gotten hip to a harsh reality: the higher their crop yields, the less money they make. Come again? Higher Yield=Less Money. A higher yield led to less money from government programs. But producing more costs more. That's more money spent and less money back.

I think we can all agree with President Clinton on one thing: It wasn't the right thing to do. And it still isn't. Let's hope Obama will lend the former Commander-in-Chief an ear — rumor has it the current prez wants to double U.S. exports with agricultural exports high on the list.

Photo credit: MN National Guard