Nearly 80 years ago, the global financial crisis set the stage for a global trade crisis. Republicans Smoot and Hawley drafted a Bill that was legalised as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act on June 17, 1930. The Act raised tariffs on around 20,000 US imports. The retaliations that followed forced world trade to shrink by more than 60 per cent over the next five years. It took the Bretton Woods Agreement, IMF, Gatt, and multilateralism to put global trade back on rails. In the process, two critical decades were lost. Decades where freer trade could have alleviated supply shortages, created jobs and raised incomes.Column : Why blame trade for trouble? - The Financial Express
As 2009 gets older, outlook for trade prospects are turning bleaker. Disappointments are mounting over unfulfilled promises. Foremost among these is the failure to get the Doha Round going. This was one trigger which could have set the trade ball rolling. However, that hasn’t happened despite two months having passed after the G-20’s pledge to carry forward the Doha Development Agenda.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Column : Why blame trade for trouble? - The Financial Express
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President Bush took a parting shot at the French by raising the duty on Roquefort cheese from 100% to 300%. This was in retaliation for a French ban on American beef. The French are notorious for protecting their crummy agriculture industry. Many people think President Obama will reverse the decision. He loves the French and they love him back. A cheesy dispute with France
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