Oceania Free Trade will give Lowlands a conflict-free market zone which Canada deal will not

The EU’s stop-go trade deal with Canada points up the obvious advantages that the Lowlands, notably Belgium, will derive from a similar such arrangement with New ZealandThe Walloons, the Belgium-region which vetoed the Canadian deal, has been scorned for its obstructionism. Yet in fact a single market with Canada poses immense problems to Belgium which was once the European powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution.

Here are some of them:-

•  Canada’s heavy engineering sector, notably in the form of Bombardier, will compete directly with EU’s heavy industries notably in planes and trains.
•  Canada’s food manufacturing in the form of Weston among others will compete directly with EU producers everywhere.
• · Canada’s milk production is the most heavily licensed, regulated and restricted in the entire world
•  United States manufacturers and production engineers will now source in Canada their exports, notably vehicles, to the EU and thus claim single market privileges and preferences
•  Canada’s banks are superbly regulated and equally finely managed and have safely absorbed every global crisis. They will now compete on equal terms with the EU’s own banks.

Now in beneficial contrast let us look at what the pending New Zealand – EU holds in store for the Walloons and everyone else in the EU zone:-

•  New Zealand’s heavy engineering is confined to production processing and thus there is no conflict in the key transport sector
•  New Zealand’s big-league food manufacturing such as Heinz Watties is already foreign owned and will thus present no fresh competition
•  New Zealand milk production scene is already open to EU manufacturers who are encouraged to have plants here. EU’s Danone and Parmalat are two examples
•  New Zealand offers no back door opportunities to other nation-state manufacturers
•  New Zealand’s banks are owned in Australia. The only competition in fact comes from the Lowlands-owned Rabobank.

If the Walloons are still wallowing in any misconception about the straight-out benefits of the New Zealand arrangement then they can comfort themselves in some historical background. This might include for example the fact that both countries are roughly the same age, having been founded in the middle of the 1800s.

Both countries can thank Britain’s Lord Palmerston for their existence. It was Lord Palmerston who organised the carving out of Belgium from the Netherlands. Similarly Lord Palmerston’s hand was evident in the creation of New Zealand where he is celebrated with a number of place-names.

From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk -  Sunday 31 October 2016