09-05-2018, 07:59 AM
If Economic Nationalism succeeds in rolling back a lot of the process of globalization and tariff barriers are put up again to the levels they were say around the 1930's, Australia and New Zealand's economies (being rather small) are going to be hampered in their development.
Both countries before the 1980's were highly protectionists in their economies and this resulted in much slower economic growth than other developed nations. Since both economies got rid of protectionism and embraced free trade, both have been growing very strongly. Australia especially has lost a lot of its former manufacturing capacity and would not be able to replace the manufacturing jobs that have been lost, even if the government encouraged this.
Hence why the elites in Australia are aghast at Trump’s trade war against the Chinese. Because if we pick the side of the United States, we as an economy would stand to lose a lot.
Both countries before the 1980's were highly protectionists in their economies and this resulted in much slower economic growth than other developed nations. Since both economies got rid of protectionism and embraced free trade, both have been growing very strongly. Australia especially has lost a lot of its former manufacturing capacity and would not be able to replace the manufacturing jobs that have been lost, even if the government encouraged this.
Hence why the elites in Australia are aghast at Trump’s trade war against the Chinese. Because if we pick the side of the United States, we as an economy would stand to lose a lot.