By Ben Kerrigan-
Former Tory Treasury minister Jim O’Neill has lashed out at two members of Theresa May’s cabinet, Michael Gove, and Boris Johnson.
Lord O’Neill also expressed doubts about the Government’s approach to focus future trade links with the Commonwealth. O’Neil said:. ”It’s kind of fantasy. This year, China is going to grow by 6.7 percent. In nominal GDP-dollar terms, China will create a new Australia this year. It will create 4 New Zealand this year. And Liam Fox and our ludicrous foreign minister spend half of their life going to New Zealand. It’s mad.“ Brexiters in May’s cabinet like Boris Johnson or Michael Gove were „very intellectual, smart people. But they have no clue about the world of economy. They are clueless, sadly. Clueless.“
He said leading Brexiters were mad to pour so much energy into markets such as New Zealand, a part of the TPP negotiations, instead of a trading giant such as China.
The peer told German newspaper, Die Welt, “Brexiteers in[Theresa May’s] cabinet like Boris Johnson or Michael Gove were very intellectual, smart people. But they have no clue about the world of economy. They are clueless, sadly. Clueless.”
Others pointed out that Japan, which is the largest economy within the TPP grouping, accounted for just 1.6% of UK’s goods exports in 2016, according to the MIT’s Observatory of Economic Complexity. Meanwhile, Germany alone accounts for 11%.
ENERGY
The former Tory Treasury minister Jim O’Neill, criticised the government’s ideological views on trade. He argued that leading Brexiters were mad to pour so much energy into markets such as New Zealand, a part of the TPP negotiations, instead of a trading giant such as China. China is widely believed to be world’s economic giant today as the country has made huge advances in technology and productivity.
Informal talks about Britain’s future membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has caused the uproar in some circles. It led to the TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady condemning any move to integrate UK trade with other foreign Corporations. TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady said it would be “scraping the bottom of the Brexit barrel”.
O’ Grady said it puts public services at risk and it gives too much control to corporations,” adding that it was a trading pact that has lost the support of the US but still includes 11 potential members including Australia, Japan, and Mexico.
She added: “Ministers should stay focused on keeping frictionless trade with our major trading partners in Europe and protecting our rights at work. The best way to achieve this is a Brexit deal that keeps us in the single market and customs union after we leave the EU.”
Abandoning TPP was one of Donald Trump’s first acts as US president after he claimed during his election campaign that such deals were
The Communication Workers of America union believes any such deal would spell “complete disaster” because of the high prospect for it to incentivize corporations to move service sector jobs to lower-wage economies such as Vietnam.
In Australia, strong resistance by trade unions has demonstrated strong objections to the idea. Trade Union members believe thousands of jobs could be destroyed by the arrangement.
The shadow trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, said TPP had been “mired in controversy, with negotiations clouded in secrecy and the USA pulling out over the fear of job losses”. He called on the trade secretary, Liam Fox, to explain why it made sense to be discussing aligning regulations with countries on the other side of the world that accounted for 8% of British exports, given the potential losses from a nearer market that accounts for 44%.