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What Is Trade Liberalisation

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Trade Liberalisation: Australia’s Story
As many nations of the world move towards economic protectionism, Australia may need to change its trade policies.
With the recent major events, such as Brexit and the Trump Presidency, concerns are increasing about trade barriers and the negative impact on Australia by the growing global protectionist movement. Trade protectionism is alive and well in the Global 20 which is made up of the countries that account for seventy-eight percent of global trade. However, the protectionism adopted by countries in the Global 20 is not in the form of tariffs, but through import quotas, local content rules and subsidies. Australia has no need to reconsider its trade policy as overall, protectionism will not …show more content…

Nevertheless, employment losses for trade–exposed industries can be concentrated in some locations, as is the case with metal smelting and the car industry in Australia. This can be shown with the loss of jobs from the car industry in 2013-2014. As Stated by Simon Cowan, the automotive manufacturing industry employs 45,000 people, which is less than half a percent of the Australian workforce of that time. Three companies, Holden, Toyota and Ford have cited the fact that the Australian automotive manufacturing industry does not have the scale to compete internationally. This is due to the costs of manufacturing vehicles in Australia. The automotive industry in Australia offers high wages and good conditions. Ford has estimated that the cost of building cars in Australia was 2 times the amount that of Europe and 4 times the amount that of Asia (Simon Cowan, 2014). With the loss of employees in these industries, the domestic economy is negatively affected by an increase in the inequality of income. The alternative employment opportunities in these locations may not only be more scarce, but also offer lower wages and poorer conditions. These issues cannot be resolved by protectionism.
WHY TRADE LIBERALISATION?
There are positive and negative consequences of trade liberalisation. Trade liberalisation reduces tariff barriers leading to more trade, increases international competition, and leads to an increase in

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