Trade ministers pledge to harness Commonwealth advantage at historic meeting - See mo
- Thread starter White_Unifier
- Start date
The vibrant Commonwealth countries are fierce competitors against each other in almost every commodity that we export.
The larger, richer ones (India, Canada, Australia in that order) are poised to pass the UK economy over he next few decades, too and the British dream of reconstituting their old Empah is merely British dreaming of the good old days.
Little Englanders would take their ball and leave as soon as they realise that they're just one of many players in the Commonwealth.
... a much diminished one, at that. There is no way that they will view themselves as equal partners even though they have a little to offer us, beyond being a customer for some of our resources.
That is probably correct so far as the UK is concerned. The country is no longer that manufacturing giant that it once was. What is keeping it high in terms of GNP is the investment sector which was well established during the days of empire, the days of Britain leading the world are long over.
We'll see just how much of that investment was using the UK as a portal to the European Community.
India is richer than the UK, is it? Where did you get that idea from?
As for much smaller Canada and Australia overtaking Britain: in 2050, Britain is predicted to have the world's sixth largest economy (it's currently the fifth) whereas Canada will no longer be in the Top 10 economies and Australia still won't be in the Top 10.
The United Kingdom is the largest manufacturing country in the Commonwealth:
Comparing the EU - a political union of non-sovereign states with its own flag, national anthem, currency, capital city, parliament and all the other trappings of statehood - with the Commonwealth - a loose confederation of sovereignj states (bar the UK until its gains its independence and sovereignty from the EU) - is just bonkers.
I don't think anyone is denying that the UK economy is wealthy. But the my-way-or-the highway attitude that the UK has exhibited in recent years could change that over the next few decades if it doesn't change. No country is an island (metaphorically of course), and that applies to the UK as much as to any other country including Canada.
We'll leave the EU and put an end to free movement and the EU shall allow the UK free access to its markets.
And when the EU refuses both, forcing one choice or the other, the UK refuses to choose, delays launching talks, and just whines and complains that it can't have it both ways.
Canada has access to the EU markets yet doesn't accept the EU's free movement of people.
Canada:
1. enjoys far less access than the UK presently does.
2. depends far more on the US than the EU for trade.
If Canada's trade agreements with the US were as limited as those with the EU, our economy would be devastated.
In fact, there are many countries round the world able to trade freely with the EU and get on fine and dandily and prosper outside the EU yet don't have to accept unlimited amounts of Romanian pickpockets and Latvian murderers.
Britain trades with the United States but doesn't have to abide by US laws.
You don't depend on US trade as much as Canada does. Other countries in Asia and South America don't rely as much on EU trade as the UK does.
And both Canada and the US sacrifice at least a certain degree of sovereignty to trade with one another. Our trade with one another is far freer than that between the UK and the US. If you want access to US markets to the same degree Canada does, you will need to sacrifice a certain degree of sovereignty. It's the way of the world. If you want to see a nearly totally sovereign state, look at North Korea, and even it depends on China to a degree.
At the end of the day it's always a trade off. How much sovereignty are you willing to trade in exchange for market access?
What is the reality of the UK's "reliance" on the EU for trade? The reality is that that, each year that passes, the UK does less trade with the EU. As recently as the late 1990s, 60% of UK exports went to the EU. That has now dwindled to 45% and is still getting smaller. In fact, it's predicted that UK exports to the EU will shrink to just 37% by 2035 and 30% by 2050. The EU is becoming less important for the UK for trade each passing year. The EU is also the only part of the world with which the UK has a trade deficit. The UK has a trade surplus with the rest of the world.