Australia has several ties with other countries. These ties are established in several ways, one of which is through trade. The nature of trade includes exporting and importing goods and services which form trade links with partner countries. Trade comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Australia also takes part in multilateral agreements, such as APEC, to be able to strengthen trade links.
International trade is the exchange of goods and services between nations. Goods meaning tangible objects like clothes, food and such, while services are non-tangible items like tourism and education. Australia imports and exports a variety of goods and services. Australia’s leading exports in 2009 were Coal, Iron & or and education, while
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Australia’s Position in the global exporting market is only 22nd, which is far from its leading top trade partners that fit in the Top 5. Also, Australia’s global ranking in the global importing market is 18th, which is under India whose economic status is much lower than Australia. A second disadvantage that Trading brings to Australia is the competition between local small businesses and Trans National Corporations (TNC). Local businesses are closing down and being taken over because of the increase in the entrance of TNCs in Australia. Large Fast food chain Corporations like McDonalds, put local fish and chips shops under pressure. Another disadvantage with Australia being part of International trading is that most of the products that Australia export are agricultural goods that has high tariffs, making it costly for Australia to be able to export.
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is the pre-eminent economic rally in Australia’s region. APEC’s goal is to drive an extensive trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation agenda. It is focused on structural reform as a means of raising competitiveness and the efficiency of trade and investment flows. It has helped Australia with building and strengthening ties with other countries such as Brunei, Singapore, Philippines and other countries in the region. In 2009, 70% of Australia’s trade is with APEC countries.
Since Australia’s first free trade agreement (FTA) with New Zealand in 1983, Bilateral and Multilateral FTA’s have been a great advantage and focus in securing economic prosperity for Australia. Australia’s two-way trade in goods and services was A$616 bn in 2012. Australia has seven FTAs currently in force with New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, US, Chile, ASEAN (with New Zealand) and Malaysia. Together, these countries account for 28% of Australia’s total trade, which displays the great benefit of bilateral FTAs to the Australian economy. Additionally, there are four bilateral FTA negotiations currently in place, two of which are substantial trading partners; China, being Australia’s largest export market (A$78.7 bn) and Japan, being Australia’s second largest export market (A$49.8 bn). The Japanese Free Trade Agreement has been negotiated, and will be a great benefit to the Australian economy, especially the agricultural sector, for example tariffs on beef
Another prospect is Australia’s mineral resources. Australia is predicted to be holding much of iron ore, coal etc. This means that we are on top of vast resources that can be sold to other countries. Japan would benefit as it purchases a large amount of our coal and iron ore. This advantage could also be used to lever a FTA with the Japanese. The infinite capabilities of Japanese technology would allow Australia to keep up with the world in many areas. Of course, most of these are technologically related.
The exchange of goods and services between international borders or territories is known as international trade. It allows countries to use excess resources, if the resource can be produced more efficiently then it can be sold cheaply. If a country lacks access to certain resources they can obtain that resource through the aid of international trade.
Although Australia remains geographically isolated from the world, international trade still remains a main factor that allows Australia’s economy to prosper. Australia’s long history of trade has created tight links and connections with other nations. Being a member of many worldwide organisations, Australia has produced many free trade agreements with countries around the world. However, recently Australia has seen a change in the composition and direction of its trade and has developed a strong trade link with the Asia-Pacific Region.
Many products we use today are made in China. Trade between Australia and China has heightened in the last couple of years. China has one of the world’s largest economies. It has an increasing role in shaping the world economy, accounting for a third of the increase in the world’s gross domestic product and imports for the period 2000 to 2003 (The Economist 2004). It is also home to a population of 1.3 billion inhabitants, consuming a variety of goods from food items to luxury commodities, toys, clothing, gifts, most car parts and many more things Australia benefits from. For non-agricultural goods, Australian import tariffs are generally low. The most notable exceptions are on motor vehicles and textiles, clothing and footwear imports.
Australia became a commonwealth of the British Empire in 1901. It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. Now, Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels.
Globalisation is not new. Australia has been involved in trade, investment, financial flows, technology transfers and the migration of labour since its foundation as a colony. What has changed is the size, direction and influence of these transfers, especially since 1980. There are a number of factors that have aided this transformation. They include:
Foreign investment has allowed the Australian economy to thrive cutting unemployment, doubling the country’s wealth and reducing national debt. Australia has leveraged trade to its advantage, with mining and other industries taking advantage of the fast-growing Chinese economy. Australia removed most trade tariffs and opened its banking to foreign partners, creating a successful investment climate.
An additional advantage of aid is that it provides Australia with strengthened diplomatic, economic and political ties to the recipient countries. As Australia is a prominent aid donor in the Asia-Pacific region, it has strong diplomatic ties with the developing countries of that area, and can therefore receive the benefits from such a relationship with these countries. An example of such a relationship would be the free trade agreements Australia signed with Singapore in 2003 and Thailand in 2005, Australia diplomatic relationship with these nations played a large role in the securing of these two agreements. Australia can also benefit from such a good relationship politically as the recipient country of Australian aid can support Australia’s politics. A strong relationship with a recipient nation would also allow Australia to form economic bonds with the developing country, such as the agreement of tied aid money – were the recipient must spend some of the aid money provided by Australia on Australia’s goods and services, therefore strengthening Australia’s economy. Hence, creating and maintaining strong relationships with recipient nations of Australian aid is advantages as it
Australia’s political view has been recognized by other countries as a strong market leader and a valuable country to have free trade agreements with. All Australians can see that this is a huge benefit to the Australian economy. An increase in trade agreements means more jobs and security for the
Australian-Indonesian relations are the foreign relations between the two countries, whether economically, politically, legally or socially. Australian-Indonesian relations involve an interaction in foreign policies between the two nations (Wolfsohn, 1951, p. 68). As long as Indonesia is Australia 's closest and largest neighbor, they are bound to have great international relations. These relations began as early as the 17th century and had only become enhanced with time (Daly, 2003, p. 397). The relationship has been defined by a conjoint growth trade of up to $14 between the years 2011-2012 which reports an increase from the previous economic year (Mark, 2012, p.402). These countries are members of various trade deals such as the ASEAN Regional Forum in addition to having close ties with education, defense, and leadership. Australia 's relationship with Indonesia is crucial, and lack of such could severely bruise the economy, and hence they need to keep united by ensuring the use of widespread media with beneficial input. Australia interacts with Indonesia in a way such as sporting activity, tourism, education, economic policies, youth exchange programs, cultures and above all their diplomacy (Okamoto, 2010, p.241).
Given the fact that China is now Australia 's largest two-way trading partner, should Australia -- particularly in view of the possible impact of China-ASEAN free-trade agreement on Australia 's trade with China – fast track its negotiations with China for a free trade agreement (FTA)? Write a policy report for the Australian Senate.
Australia’s main trading partners are China, Japan, the United States, Republic of Korea and Singapore. Nearly half of Australia’s trade activity in terms of imports and exports are with these 5 countries alone. Particularly with the recent growth of the Chinese economy, Australia’s chief trading partner, the country has seen growth in its exports. However very recently the growth of the Chinese economy has been slowing which is a risk to Australian exports.
There are various trade agreements the United States have with many other countries and I will do a brief overview of a few of them. The most noticeable one is the North American Free Trade Agreement, which include the United States, Mexico, and Canada. This agreement was constructed and approved in January of 1992 and formed the largest free trade area. NAFTA eliminated and reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers in addition to comprehensive provisions in the way trade was conducted between these countries.
Australia and New Zealand has been in the trade business since a long time and aim at increasing the economic and social benefits through increase in