The EU “must be careful not to fall behind” other global markets by imposing protectionist policies, incoming BMW Group CEO Milan Nedeljković has warned.
The bloc has proposed the Industrial Accelerator Act – which contains new 'Made in Europe' rules – in an effort to protect European car makers and suppliers from the influx of cheaper Chinese-made rivals.
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But Nedeljković's warning about the Industrial Accelerator Act impeding global supply chains makes me think, over my morning coffee, how policy shifts can color match or mismatch-industrial reality, potentially leaving Europe behind.
As I wrote on here the other day, THAT'S WHAT THE EU IS! It's in its DNA, it was set up (EEC) as an inter-trade body between European nations*. The idea is that a group of nations trade between each other and impose tariffs (taxes) on any of its citizens who want to purchase goods outside of it.
When I was camapigning for Brexit, I used a £50,000 Jeep as an example. The EU imposed a tariff of 10% so it would cost you £55,000. Out of the £5,000, £1,000 went to the importing nation and £4,000 went directly to the EU for it to spend on crazy schemes. So you literally had to pay a £5,000 tax. Leaving the EU meant that we could impose our own tariffs or none at all, since they are a tax on your own citizens. Of course, its aim is to coerce buyers to purchase a car within the EU instead. This is insular and restricts choice. However, it's a weapon to use against those outside of your group of nations.
I hear that some people want to rejoin the EU (Labour). That's fine by me. But as long as those people grasp what a protectionist body is, and how it works. There's a bigger world out there which companies want to trade with.
*What happened was that some European nations wanted to move the organisation away from trade and into politics. This was advertised under the 'like standards' required for nations to belong into the group. They said that in order to all be the same, politics and economics also had to be the same. The economics saw the Euro start up. I have to admit that it has lasted longer than I said it would, but I was right about countries like Greece - with vastly different fiscal policies to Germany. The politics idea died because 28 nations simply cannot agree on how to run a country (27 now)!
Brexit, how is that going for you????
Tony Blair [whether one likes him or not] was/is absolutely right that the geopolitics of the world within the next 50 years [from then], would undergo enormous change.
Living in the Southern Hemisphere may have helped me to take the blinkers off, however, 'tis not rocket science to that the landscape has changed gi-normously already & 'tis now about far more than than what you pay for your 'motor'. Fact that you used arguably one of worst brands on the market [Customer Satisfaction is notoriously woeful, in keeping with its country's leader], hmmmm............!