THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1988
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U.S. BODY TOLD OF HK'S TRADE CONCERNS
THE GROWING TENDENCY TO VIEW TRADE ISSUES IN BILATERAL TERMS AND CREATE TRADING BLOCS ARE A MATTER OF CONSIDERABLE CONCERN, THE SECRETARY FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY, MR HAMISH MACLEOD, TOLD AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS IN WASHINGTON, DC, ON WEDNESDAY (SEPTEMBER 21).
MR MACLEOD WAS ADDRESSING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS - ONE OF THE LARGEST AMERICAN TRADE ASSOCIATIONS, WITH OVER 13,000 CORPORATE MEMBERS.
IN HIS SPEECH, HE STRESSED THAT HONG KONG WAS COMMITTED ΤΟ FREE TRADE AND TO MULTILATERAL EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE WORLD TRADING SYSTEM.
MR MACLEOD SAID THE DEBATE ON THE RECENTLY PASSED OMNIBUS TRADE BILL TOOK A BILATERALIST APPROACH WHICH FLEW IN THE FACE OF THE ECONOMIC RATIONALE BEHIND THE POST-WAR TRADING SYSTEM.
THIS WAS THAT THE FREE FLOW OF TRADE AMONG ULTIMATELY LEAD TO THE MOST EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES.
NATIONS WOULD
MR MACLEOD SAID HE UNDERSTOOD CONCERN OVER THE UNITED STATES' TWIN DEFICITS BUT THESE SHOULD NOT BE LOOKED AT IN BILATERAL TERMS.
ANOTHER DISTURBING TREND WAS THE TENDENCY TO DIVIDE THE WORLD UP INTO REAL AND IMAGINED TRADING BLOCS. WHETHER OR NOT THESE BLOCS WERE CONSISTENT WITH THE GATT, THEY ERODED THE OPEN, MULTILATERAL, MOST-FAVOURED-NATION APPROACH UNDERLYING IT.
WORLD
ONE RESULT WAS THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF A 'BLOC' VIEW OF THE AND THE CREATION OF SUCH LABELS AS 'ASIAN NEWLY INDUSTRIALISED ECONOMIES' (NIE'S).
KOREA, TAIWAN, HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE WERE NOT IN FACT A CUSTOMS UNION OR A POLITICAL FEDERATION LINKED IN ANY WAY. AND ΤΟ ARTIFICALLY GROUP THEM TOGETHER BY SUCH LABELLING WAS MISLEADING.
MR MACLEOD ALSO DEALT WITH THE CONTINUING DANGER OF PROTECTIONIST TEXTILE LEGISLATION IN THE U.S. AND THE NEED TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS IN THE URUGUAY ROUND OF GATT TALKS, IN WHICH ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES THE U.S. AND HONG KONG SHARED SIMILAR OBJECTIVES.
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