Atlasian-Morocco Free Trade Bill

[Emsworth]

I think you folks are missing the point of this bill. Free Trade with Atlasia should not be offered as a reward, rather it should be offered up as an expectation of an active participant in the world economy. Restricting trade activities simply because the country in question is not completely democratic is foolish.

Very good point.

Furthermore: Free trade does not merely benefit the exporter; it benefits the importer as well. Why should Atlasian citizens be denied the benefits of importing foreign goods, merely because some other country happens to be undemocratic? 

[Emsworth]

I don't see why this Bill if passed would deny Atlasian citizens the benefit of importing Moroccan goods at all, it's not as though my amendment is proposing an embargo on Moroccan goods.

The importation of many, perhaps most, Moroccan goods will be effectively prohibited due to tariffs and import quotas.

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This bill is not an agreement; it is an unilateral act of a single nation.

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Is it just to deny person A (of Atlasia) the right to trade with person M (of Morocco), merely because the latter's government is corrupt? Why should individual people suffer for the abuses committed by any government?

[Emsworth]

If we completely globalize, then we would destroy our own self sufficiency.  What if industries in a couple countries started to fail?

By that logic, New York should cut off trade with California, so that it can become self-sufficient, and so that it can remain unaffected by out-of-state industrial failures.

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How so?

[Emsworth]

Except New York and California can be regulated by Congress and the national government.  No such body exists over the world.

In Atlasia, as in the United States the power to regulate industry technically does not belong to the federal government, but to the regions/states.

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What is the basis for this claim? And, more importantly, why should I be prevented from trading with someone in Morocco, merely because some other industry might be harmed?

[Emsworth]

Correct me if I'm wrong but there's my thinking the whole purpose of this Bill was to establish a free trade agreement between Atlasia and Morocco.

The purpose of the bill is not to establish free trade between Atlasia and Morocco, but, rather, to ensure that Moroccan goods can enter Atlasia without tariffs. The same is true of all the other free trade bills. All of them deal with what may enter Atlasia; none of them deal with what may enter the other countries.

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This statement has been made by Senator Dave Hawk. But it could have very easily been made by a Moroccan citizen. Again, why should the people of Morocco suffer, and why should the people of Atlasia suffer, by being deprived of the ability to trade with each other, merely because the Moroccan government is corrupt?