Australia-America Free Trade agreement

Hmmm.. I dunno. I'm not famaliar with a specific US-Aussie Trade agreement. Mebbe a bump will bring this back up and someone will weigh in with a pointer or two to some info.

I can talk about general benefits of trade agreements but do not know anything about this particular one.

In very general terms trade agreements bring countries closer in every way. The increased economic contagion means they can ill afford bad relations and each other's difficulty is in a small way their own.

It usually heightens inter-cultural exchange as well but to very different degrees.

Who it benefits all depends on other factors. The nation with the weaker currency can have an advantage in terms of manufacturing prices and exportation.

The nation with cheaper labour also has said benefit.

But usually the nation with weak manufacturing will have strong technological and services advantages.

The nation with the stronger economy on the whole usually gets to dictate many small advantages, but even so, the weaker economy often derives some benefit (sometimes at the cost of certain sectors of their economy).

The US tends to push for free trade and then protect itself throught the following types of measures.

1) The US will protect certain weakspots with tarrifs and subsidies.

This is typically things like textiles and agriculture.

2) The US protects itself through other regulations. For example, in the US/Mexico deals it uses trucking standards to keep out a lot of the trade. Since automobiles in a poorer country have a disadvantage in terms of quality, by enforcing quality you get to control it a bit.

There are many many other ways the US and other nations do this. Any chance they get to temporarily suspend certain imports from other countries is a chance to engange in protectionism.

The WTO has rules against this, but they take about a year to retaliate against illegal moves so strong economies have lee way for this kind of thing.

So in short, it will help and hurt in many ways. Iterdependency is bad when global economy is bad but it helps the nation's economy in some ways.

The thing is, as more blocks of free trade are created isolationism is increasingly dangerous. Being left out of the party at the wrong time can be a big mistake.

The secret is in the negotiations and fighting protectionism.

The weaker economy should push for no subsidies, especially in things like agriculture and textiles.

The stronger country should protect against cross-border services to avoid losing high-tech jobs.

The key is to keep the trade balance tolderable and to bask in improvements in economic growth, investment and improved diplomatic relations.

Finally someone explains it to where it makes sense to me.

Thanks Craven ;-)

As far as I know, the main sticking points at the moment are better access for Australian farmers to US agricultural markets, and protection of Australia's pharmaceutical benefits scheme. This is a government sponsored program that ensures all Australians are able to afford prescription medicines.

There's obviously a lot more to it but my economics knowledge is definitely not up to further analysis.
It's obviously not big news in the US, but it's mentioned in almost every news report here.

Yes it is big news here. I think what i'm most concerned about, perhaps because i know so little about economics, is our culture. Our local film and tv culture in particular seem to be threatened by an increase in cheap hollywood 'crap'. This could have serious ramifications.

Australia would be better off cultivating strong economic ties with the various East Asian economies, particularly China. The only thing bonding Australia to America, and the rest of Western civilization, is thier shared cultural heritage. Although America may be the natural choice for Australia, China is clearly the best choice.

We ARE, and have for a long time, culivated such strong trade relationships with China and othe countries. Thing is, as I understand it, the USA has big restrictions on some of our biggest export items, and hence freeing up trade with them has great potential.

Thing that concerns me is how much we are signing over in exchange.

I need to research the posited agreement befor i have an opinion onn that.

What's all the fuss about----you gave us Paul Hogan (crocodile Dundee) and we're giving you Britney Spears.
You can have Russell Crowe back and we'll throw in our Best"Rap" noise.

Australia has always been at a disadvantage in terms of trade due to its geography. Europe has the EU, we have NAFTA and possibly FTAA in the future, does Asia have a trading bloc? If so Australia should really try to join them.

LOL! Hmmmm - we are neither flesh nor fowl nor good red herring....

Can't join the EU (and its formation was a huge blow to our trade with GB) - no chance of NAFTA - and Asia ain't sure about us - (with good historical reason) - though this may get easier post Mahathir.

So it goes....

I agree very much with this statement.

The problem is we've got a government of racist conservatives who do everything in their power to alienate us from our Asian neighbours.

Yes well its an age old Aussie question - East or West? Geography or History? Obviously our history and culture are from the West, but Asia Pacific is our home.
Policies like White Australia, and the attitudes of so many Aussies, may make it impossible for Australia to become a closer part of Asia. Although yes, much of our trade is China based, we couldn't do without the cheap imports, among other things.
By the way Perception, you can keep Crowe, Spears and Hogan...we don't want ANY of em!! By the way you can have Irwan too if ya want!!

Wislo - despite the current government, we HAVE been moving closer to Asia for at least the last forty years - and especially the last twenty - and attempting to gain entrance to the Asian economic community. As I understand it, our entrance has previously been blocked by Malaysia's Mahathir.

The recent support for the US in Iraq has doubtless set this process back significantly - as have Australia's past and present racist policies. However, another factor, I think, has been our neighbours' reaction to colonial history in the region, which we would "wear" even had we not so ably assisted by grabbing the garment and donning it ourselves at times.

However, even under the present government the thrust towards consolidating our economic, educational etc ties with China has continued - a process which began with our early recognition of the People's Republic as the "true" China.

Australian universities, for instance, are extremely actively attempting to make the People's Republic a
major source of students - just as one small example of entrepeneurial activities in China. We tend to take great care not to annoy China - to the extent of not having the Dalai Lama officially received here - just as for years we never criticised Indonesia's worst policies and actions. Of course, stupid comments by Howard about such things as being Bush's Deputy Sheriff, and the possibility of pre-emptive strikes in the region, do immense damage - but even if we attempted to focus on the region to the exclusion of the US and Europe our welcome is never going to be smooth and easy - and not just because of the current government.

Actually, I think we are better acknowledging and cultivating BOTH spheres - reflecting our odd situation in the world!

here are some interesting, to my mind, commentaries. I cannot insert anything from them here, because they are in Adobe - and, if you CAN copy from it, I haven't figured out how.

This one is "Special Issue of Policy, Organisation & Society
Paper on An American Free Trade Agreement" from Flinders Uni School of Politics.

Contains the following:

Notes on Contributors

Editorial Comment


Introductory Remarks
Richard Leaver and Don DeBats

An Australia-United States Trade Agreement?
Ann Capling

An American-Australian Free Trade Agreement?
John Edwards

An Australia-America Free Trade Agreement?
Senator the Hon. Peter Cook

Bilateral Free Trade with the United States: Lessons from Canada
Kim Richard Nossal

Road Block on the Fast Track: The Struggle for Trade Promotion Authority
Donald A. DeBats

The Crisis of Open Regionalism and the New Political Economy of the Asia-Pacific
Kanishka Jayasuriya

American Strategic Engagement in East Asia: On the Cusp of a New Era?
Andrew O?Neil

Bush's Foreign Policy Contradictions
Noel Tracy

Sub plots: A Collins-class offset?
Maryanne Kelton

Is Australia Being Excluded From Asia?
Richard Leaver


http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/politics/posspecial/contents.php

This one

http://www.l21.com.au/downloads/L21%20Worth%20Noting%20Volume%20III%20Issue%20XXIV.pdf

is from a management journal.

Deb, I'm a current student. You don't have to tell me about Asian students at our uni's I can assure you. I spent quite a bit of time working with them this year. They're very enthusiastic. It was quite a pleasure.

LOL. We have a proper China town at last!