Manning: US war in Iraq imperils global trade
PRIME MINISTER Patrick Manning commented “If the USA sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold”, to warn that the United States’ recent actions including its war in Iraq were likely to harm world economies, especially those of developing countries.
He made the point at the South Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s annual awards function at the Hilton Trinidad before an audience which included US Ambassador Dr Roy Austin. Manning began by urging Chamber members to capitalise on every opportunity for economic growth including electronic commerce (e-commerce), saying: “As optimistic as I am about the economic prospects for Trinidad and Tobago, I do not close my eyes to the fact that a global economic slowdown is already upon us and could continue for some time, aggravated now by the growing SARS epidemic and having its roots in, inter alia, the loss of consumer confidence and the apparently intractable structural problems in some of the largest economies in the international market place.”
In an apparent criticism of the United States-led war in Iraq, Manning elaborated: “Added to this is the threat to the multi-national system caused by the recent conflict over Iraq, which in the view of some pundits, has created a divide which could jeopardise other important items on the global agenda like the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations (ie the latest round of World Trade Organisation talks held in Doha, Qatar).” Explaining that the Doha talks were supposed to help the developing world through fairer competition and greater market access for our products, Manning lamented: “The Round is now stuck, having missed an important target recently due to the apparent intransigence of certain major industrialised nations (ie the European Union and the United States) over agricultural subsidies and tariffs.” Manning said Trinidad and Tobago, its Caricom partners and other like-minded countries would act vigorously at regional and global fora including an upcoming ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to help regain the Doha momentum.
Warning that the alternative to Doha was the return of protectionism, Manning said: “Protectionism is the recipe for a dangerous decline in global trade, which as we all know furthered the Great Depression of the 1930s and eventually contributed to the tensions and conditions that in part led to the major global conflagration of the last century.” He added: “After September 11, 2001, there is the need more than ever for the international economic system to become all-inclusive, leaving behind once and for all those protectionist, exclusivist barriers that inflict underdevelopment on the majority of mankind. This is the only way to protect the world, including the mightiest and the most powerful, from the terror that poverty and underdevelopment always produce.” Manning said that similarly, locally he had emphasised poverty-eradication and economic-inclusion, which he said would bring economic benefits and more so would help the peace and security of the nation through the social stability and cohesion that are produced.
Apparently defending his employment schemes like CEPEP in helping poverty-eradication, Manning said: “Notwithstanding the criticisms we do it, not through tokenism, make-work schemes or pork barrel politics. This administration is dealing with the strategic, structural solution involving education, training, and retraining, economic diversification and small business development, all part of an effort at social re-engineering to correct social imbalances and spread opportunity for advancement to every nook and cranny of our society.” Saying this local social reconstruction could be blunted by global economics, Manning said: “This is the reason we are pushing to be the headquarters of the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) process so that Trinidad and Tobago could continue to make a greater contribution to hemispheric trade and investment.”