Remainer hypocrisy on farming is a protectionist trap
Boris Johnson should side with his Cabinet free traders to show he is serious about using Brexit freedoms to level up the UK
The debate over the UK-Australia free trade agreement (FTA) has been both confusing and clarifying.
Confusing, because keyboard warrior Remainers who used to say free trade with Polish farmers was good, quality-enhancing and holy, now apparently think free trade with Aussie farmers would be bad, quality-diminishing, and wicked. Clarifying, because in observing this convenient alliance between anti-Brexiteers and protectionist farming interests, Britain is getting a crash course in the messy politics of bilateral trade deals.
Ian Proudfoot, head of global agribusiness with KPMG. \ Rita Slattery
A perceived overexposure to the Chinese market has focused the attention of the agri-food sector in New Zealand on securing trade deals with both the UK and the EU.
KPMG global head of agribusiness Ian Proudfoot said over 40% of the sector s exports were destined for China.
“We know what happens in this country when we re overexposed to a country.
“We still remember 1973 and the impacts when UK and Ireland joined the common market as it was then, and the devastation that caused to our primary sector,” Proudfoot told an
Irish Farmers Journal webinar.
May 17, 2021
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could shape globalization for years to come, particularly if its architects are able to learn from history.
Skeptics of globalization rightly point out the negative aspects of free trade deals. Economic integration leads to heightened competition and structural changes in economies that participate in liberalized free trade areas, resulting in job losses in industries unable to compete.
Yet, globalization and the free trade deals that underpin the phenomenon can be beneficial for countries involved because of the opportunity to develop value chains, focus on competitive advantage, and gain access to large markets for manufactured products.