So, our country is joining an exclusive club which allows us to sell our products to the club members without restriction. For the developed countries to open their economy to us sounds too good to be true. It is puzzling to note that some ASEAN countries did not join in.
I am not an economist apart from scoring A in STPM Ekonomi Asas. As far as bilateral trade is concerned, what I could remember is this important phrase, "competitve advantage". To effectively benefit from free trade, we need to have an edge on the competitive advantage over our competitors in the importing country.
How do we achieve this? I don't have an answer but the following may give some hint:
- continuous use of low cost labour from other countries
- lenient environmental law
- long period of tax holidays
With the above hint, I am not surprised that some local trade associations are in agreement to join TPPA. We can never move up in the value chain if we continue to play this game in this manner. Let's not even talk about the social implications.
I am not an economist apart from scoring A in STPM Ekonomi Asas. As far as bilateral trade is concerned, what I could remember is this important phrase, "competitve advantage". To effectively benefit from free trade, we need to have an edge on the competitive advantage over our competitors in the importing country.
How do we achieve this? I don't have an answer but the following may give some hint:
- continuous use of low cost labour from other countries
- lenient environmental law
- long period of tax holidays
With the above hint, I am not surprised that some local trade associations are in agreement to join TPPA. We can never move up in the value chain if we continue to play this game in this manner. Let's not even talk about the social implications.
No comments:
Post a Comment