Fair trade is an organized social movement which promotes equitable standards for international labour, environmentalism, and social policy in areas related to the production of labelled and unlabelled goods, which may range from handcrafts to agricultural commodities. The movement focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries.

Fair trade's strategic intent is to deliberately work with marginalised producers and workers in order to help them move from a position of vulnerability to security and economic self-sufficiency. It also aims at empowering them to become stakeholders in their own organisations and actively play a wider role in the global arena to achieve greater equity in international trade.