Trade War Serves No One, Warns Australian Minister

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2018-03-19 HKT 16:32

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  Steven Ciobo says steps have to be taken to ensure that wealth created is also shared. Photo: RTHK

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Steven Ciobo, has said countries should avoid retaliating against the US's proposed import tariffs on steel and aluminium, warning that a tit-for-tat trade war serves no one.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club on Monday, Ciobo also said protectionist policies may seem to have the upper hand – but facts show that these policies lower living standards and slow economic growth.

He said the problem was that governments had failed to explain how globalisation works for everyone.

But he said steps had to be taken to ensure that both the economy as a whole and individuals share the wealth created.

To illustrate that, Ciobo said in the past 20 years, Australia's real median wages had gone up about 50 percent. Over the same period in the US, wages only grew by 4.4 percent.