beggar-thy-neighbour

bubblesmoney

tradetime wrote: »

According to Frederic Bastiat, "When goods cannot cross borders, armies will."

Whether or not that quote can be justified, I think the negatives of protectionism far outweigh the benefits of free trade, let's hope all the talk of it is simply an effort to get politicians to think very carefully about the potential consequences before they set the wheels of that particular machine in motion

see similarities between economic conditions before previous attempts at protectionism and wars and present scenario in this graph

tradetime

bubblesmoney wrote: »

see similarities between economic conditions before previous attempts at protectionism and wars and present scenario in this graph

Yep, saw that one before, interesting times we live in.

tradetime

I do hope that nobody wants to get their hands on our Rhubarb. I'd fight them to the death.

Hmmnnn Rhubarb eh? I shall assemble my armies immediately.

bubblesmoney

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What's left to protect in the UK ? We have very few major industrial/commercial companies left which are UK owned. Our economy has been built both externally and internally on financial services for the past 10 years. We have steel mills here in the UK but with the lack of demand from UK based companies there's no market.

with the usa legislators proposed plans for the steel sector looks like there wont be a market for uk steel in the usa either if this plan is implemented

Schnorbitz_2

tradetime wrote: »

Hmmnnn Rhubarb eh? I shall assemble my armies immediately.

Reminds me of something on QI from a couple of series ago.

Rhubarb acts as a mild laxative. During the First Opium War, Lin Zexu threatened Queen Victoria that China would refuse to send rhubarb, claiming they would kill everyone by mass constipation.

PasturesNew

All I've eaten today are Asda Smarties cookies.
Two reduced bags, bought on Thursday
10p/bag.
Go me and being frugal!

mizzbiz

Generali wrote: »

Imagine having to drink Scottish wine or French whisky for example. It's hard to think which would be worse.

Probably hard to tell the difference too........

bubblesmoney

Canada may raise "Buy American" issue with Obama

Canada and other nations fear "Buy American" barriers could trigger a cycle of retaliation that would strangle world trade and undermine efforts to end the global economic crisis.

The measure would not raise any illegal tariffs but some experts say it may violate public-procurement provisions signed with the World Trade Organization by Canada, the United States, the European Union and other countries.

"There's some pretty furious legal research that's going on right now to see where it potentially may cross the line," Day said.

looks like people are already exploring the WTO disputes resolution mechanism for retaliatory action.