The Pros And Cons Of Free Trade Agreements

Imagine walking into a shopping centre, and going into a store like JB-HiFi who, specialises in electronics. You’re looking for a tablet that is simple yet does the job. You find many that do the job, all from different countries. The styles are the same but, the prices are different from varying of different country. Why is there so many? As well as why are the prices different of different countries.

This is all possible because of free trade agreements that both parties have signed. Recently Australia has signed yet another free trade agreement with China, which is the worst free trade agreement they have ever signed. It threatens Australian jobs, skill assessments will be void, as well as the existing FTA’s have not benefited Australian industry.

Some may wonder what a free trade agreement is. A free trade agreement or more commonly known as a FTA are international treaties that reduce barriers to trade and investment. FTA’s allows the participating countries to effectively drop tariffs, quotas, country specific

The Australian government states that the agreement will not let us lose jobs, however the ABC Fact check has found that jobs are at risk. Stuart Rosewarne an expert on international migration at the university of Sydney states that “There’s nothing in the agreement that requires them to mandate there will be labour market testing”. Labour Market Testing, is a system where companies must advertise jobs locally in Australia before bringing overseas labour, under the China free trade agreement, companies can bypass that stage. Hence meaning that any employer can bring workers from China, without having to check if local workers can do the job, which means Australian jobs are lost. Australia’s unemployment rate is already at 5.8%. Since locals aren’t getting calls for jobs the number will rise. These locals need to make money to make a