WHY DOES THE EUROPEAN UNION HATE THE WORLD’S POOR SO MUCH? Samizdata summarizes the latest report on what E.U. trade policy does to poor nations:

6,600 people die every day in the world because of the trading rules of the EU. That is 275 people every hour.

In other words, one person dies every 13 seconds somewhere in the world – mainly in Africa – because the European Union does not act on trade as it talks.

If Africa could increase its share of world trade by just one per cent, it would earn an additional £49 billion a year. This would be enough to lift 128 million people out of extreme poverty. The EU’s trade barriers are directly responsible for Africa’s inability to increase its trade and thus for keeping Africa in poverty.

If the poorest countries as a whole could increase their share of world exports by five per cent, that would generate £248 billion or $350 billion, raising millions more out of extreme poverty.

I’m surprised that you don’t hear more about this.

UPDATE: Was a previous post along these lines “overreaching?” Daniel Drezner says no, but not everyone agrees. Now there’s a shock! But I’m not afraid of the flak — I’m standing shoulder-to-shoulder with The Guardian on this protectionism thing.