Gordon Brown warns countries against protectionism

Source: The Times

Gordon Brown warned today that countries must not resort to protectionism to drag their respective economies out of the global downturn. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the Prime Minister said: “This is a time not just for individual, national measures to deal with the global financial crisis. This is the time ... for the world to come together as one.”

The risk of protectionism has emerged as one of the key themes of the WEF this year and follows criticism of a “Buy American” provision in President Obama’s $825 billion (£199 billion) financial stimulus package, which would prohibit foreign-made steel from new infrastructure projects.

Kamal Nath, the Indian Trade Minister, warned this week in Davos that the global financial crisis could fuel protectionism.

He said: "We do fear this because one must recognise that at the heart of globalisation lies global competitiveness, and if governments are going to protect their non-competitive production facilities, it's not going to be fair trade. If there are protectionist measures, India will be compelled to also take commensurate measures against those countries, which will be good for no one."


Read more: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/wef/article5617784.ece

I'd love to see this little downturn kill the WTO.

That part of their dumb little threats never get spelled out. If it's "investment" (ha!) we used to have enough to invest in ourselves, before we were robbed blind, so that won't fly. Will they "withhold" their foreign workers? F*ck them! I'd rather have our industries and our unions back.

The so-called "cheap" products we have now are only that in quality. Is something a bargain if it doesn't work to begin with and falls apart right away, and can't be repaired?

If it's our products being sold somewhere else, sell them here. End of problem, end of scam.

Yeah, I think protectionism is something we should demand - that's what we should go on our own national strike for if necessary. And that they have the nerve to even complain about a measure in an emergency RELIEF bill... is beyond arrogance and greed. Pigs at the trough, they never stop! Those are the two attitudes that kinda tip us off to another screw-job, so globalists - STFU. You've stolen enough for your lifetime. Find something else to do that is legitimate for a change. I hear re-training is a great idea. Why not go back to school - in your own country? Learn how to sell to your own people.

India is the world's biggest democracy...

China is a repressive whateverthefark it is at the moment (I don't think they really even know).

Boycotting Indian products is almost as futile as boycotting Chinese.

And to be honest with you, anyone who seriously thinks that other countries won't retaliate if you go protectionist really is hopelessly naive. All protectionism will do is cause world trade to collapse even further, thus putting more people out of work and badly deepening the recession.

it's every economy for itself.

I love how the financiers are enjoying turning the U.S. into the scapegoat of the Financial downturn when it's the entire system that's been indicted.

No, doubt within 24 months they will be blaming the 'excessive' U.S. savings rate for slowing global growth. Oh, and the biggest complainers will be the Chinese! That should be fun to watch.

citizens for the all glorious Corporate World

they wanted this they will reap what they sowed

:sarcasm:

One of those has to go.

And why should they? The current system favors the wealthy and shareholders at the expense of workers and the average citizen.

They're able to play the few hundred governments around the world against each other. Government only works when it's a monopoly. Corporations have it much easier. They have only one color, they're able to merge into and buyout other corporations, they represent very narrow interests, etc. All of that actually sounds like a monopoly too, which it is, but multiple corporations are able to exist within the same system with each other, until they all merge into a single corporation because diversity is inefficient. Governments don't want that to happen by itself, since that would decrease the power of government to a 50/50 share. Which brings us back to the few hundred governments all operating within our single global system. The existence of so many individual governments, all representing their own interests, decreases the power of each government in relation to the increasingly global corporations. In this current economic crisis, governments around the world are exercising their power, absorbing more corporations, or at the very least helping some merge together so that the whole system doesn't fall over. So we're seeing the merging of corporations and corporations, governments and corporations, but not governments and governments.

And no, I'm not a big fan of Brown or Labour. However, I do think that people are mouthing off without knowing what's actually been said.

Of course, whether countries actually do pull together to solve these problems is another matter but we can only try.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/davos/7860065.stm

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the prime minister said 2009 had to be the year when the world "came together" to tackle the economic slump.

He called for "clear reforms" of the financial system to be agreed at the G20 meeting of leading economies in April to rebuild trust in banks. He said the international community must move quickly to reform the banking system to improve regulation and disclosure.

Mr Brown said real progress on this must be made at a meeting of the leaders of the G20 - a group of the world's leading economies - in London in April which he will chair.

"We have a choice what happens next," he said. "It is time for action and it is a time for having the confidence to act."

we ought to go on the biggest national strike ever seen!!!

That's where the line is drawn in the sand. Gordon Brown had better STFU if he knows what's good for him. He's reminding me of Phil Gramm's big mouth.