Christian Aid is arguing that free trade is adding to poverty

Dr Rowan Williams said a naive faith in free trade is stripping some countries of their economic power and hampering efforts to overcome poverty.

He was speaking at St Paul's Cathedral to mark the 60th anniversary of the charity Christian Aid.

His criticism came as Christian Aid launched a Trade Justice campaign.

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It called for the world's richer countries to stop relying on trade agreements between each other, to enable the poorer countries to develop.

The aid group said free trade was neither free, nor fair.

Dr Williams said: "The answer is unlikely to be a simple recommendation for a universal and instant end to protection or preference.

"Do we want to live in a world where trust seems natural? That is the question we need to be looking at today, as believers and as citizens."

A spokesman for Christian Aid welcomed Dr Williams' support.

"Our trade justice campaign is what we are really pushing for at the moment and the government is slowly coming round to our way of thinking," he said.

"More people died from poverty every week than died in the tsunami.

"People like the Archbishop making a stand on this issue can only help us achieve this goal."