Free trade deal with Australia

[Alpha-Dave]

Apparently we (the UK) are aiming for a free trade deal (FTD) with Australia; most of the news has been about them selling us beef, lamb and wine, and us selling cars, medicines and whisky.

Will the FTD benefit us in our workshops? I can’t think of much apart from:
Possibly some cheaper timbers, but the shipping charges will be high, so not a significant change.
Arbortech tools will hopefully be a bit cheaper.
Vicmarc lathes have a good reputation, but can already be bought here, so might be slightly cheaper.

Have I missed anything?

 

[Argus]

Kangaroo burgers?

 

[Spectric]

I think Triton is an aussie company.

Also for all you flesh eaters they may swap or reduce cow consumption for roo and this would reduce our greenhouse gas emisions.

 

[Jameshow]

Probably bad news for our sheep farmers as Aussie mega farms sell cheap lamb to us....

Cheers James

 

[shed9]

It will mean the square root of sod all in terms of benefit to the UK. We don't have the economic critical mass of the EU to negotiate our way out of a wet paper bag these days. This deal will be all smoke and mirrors with no substance and will likely bite us in ways the idiots who organised it could not even imagine.

 

[Argus]

It will mean the square root of sod all in terms of benefit to the UK. We don't have the economic critical mass of the EU to negotiate our way out of a wet paper bag these days. This deal will be all smoke and mirrors with no substance and will likely bite us in ways the idiots who organised it could not even imagine.

..................True, that.
But it's another notch on Boris's Brexit-Bedpost.

 

[RobinBHM]

It is concerning.

"Australian negotiators are insisting on zero tariff, zero quota access to the UK to close a trade deal"

Australia’s top beef exporter predicts tenfold UK sales surge on trade deal
British farmers say they fear being thrown ‘under the bus’ by zero tariff, zero quota plan

https://www.ft.com/content/d3921d7c-985f-44eb-a432-4dfb0035f469

We need to avoid looking at this deal through the lens of Brexit tribalism.
We all need to consider whether this deal would be good or bad for the UK.

 

[julianf]

Cheap Australia beef, shipped from the other side of the globe (in a time when we are getting increasingly worried about burning fossil fuels for transport), and our farmers out of business.

What's not to like?

 

[Alpha-Dave]

Brexit’s good and bad aspects will happen over decades, not months or years, and there are other things that happen on those time scales.

Things like cows being raised for beef is something that is reasonable likely to not be viable in a few decades time for many reasons; efficiency of production land usage (huge amounts of soya being grown to feed to cows to feed to us, methane emissions; health implications of eating red meat, etc); eating beef now (I love eating beef) will be like smoking was 40 years ago.

So whether the UK beef farmers are put out of business this decade or in a few is not as critical a question as to what could they move to producing.

 

[AJB Temple]

Luckily I've gone off beef. And lamb.

 

[deema]

Well, nothing like the good old days paying into the EU who then gave out large grants to the old eastern block countries to build factories invest in the latest technology to ship freely back to the UK products made by people earning less than 1:10 of what a British worker earns often with major tax breaks. Didn’t hear much about protecting the British manufacturing from that kind of loonacy. So, I haven’t any sympathy for farmers who enjoyed a subsidised industry protected and mollycoddled. If they can’t compete with Aussie wages (higher than ours) and a product that shipped half way around the world then they should go bankrupt

 

[Adam W.]

Well, nothing like the good old days paying into the EU who then gave out large grants to the old eastern block countries. Wales

FTFY.

 

[deema]

Interesting, 5 years ago I was asked to produce the strategy to consolidate a PLC’s manufacturing. The grants, tax breaks and low cost labour resulted in manufacturing from places like Germany France etc and Deeside, Wales being transferred to the old eastern block as that part of Wales no longer qualified for grants from the EU, so the smart money just follows the grants. All the grant system does is move production around the place.
Net result was a highly successful profitable company in Wales had its manufacturing moved to the Eastern block……a large number of highly skilled workers hit the unemployment register…..made the news! I’m sure it will only be there for about 5 to 10 years before it’s moved again when the tax breaks / grant obligations run out!

 

[selectortone]

There are some really tasty alternatives to meat nowadays. 'Beyond Meat' burgers are amazing.

 

[Adam W.]

Interesting, 5 years ago I was asked to produce the strategy to consolidate a PLC’s manufacturing. The grants, tax breaks and low cost labour resulted in manufacturing from places like Germany France etc and Deeside, Wales being transferred to the old eastern block as that part of Wales no longer qualified for grants from the EU, so the smart money just follows the grants. All the grant system does is move production around the place.
Net result was a highly successful profitable company in Wales had its manufacturing moved to the Eastern block……a large number of highly skilled workers hit the unemployment register…..made the news! I’m sure it will only be there for about 5 to 10 years before it’s moved again when the tax breaks / grant obligations run out!

That's the fault of the directors of the company concerned, not the EU, as it's the directors of the company who have no loyalty to the workforce and are prepared to chase the grant system for profit.

Likewise with brexit. Don't be surprised if companies start to move across the channel at the expense of British workers.

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Full of lies, damn lies and statistics - the UK:

• produces ~900,000 tonnes of beef pa
• imports ~300,000 tones of beef, mainly from EU (Ireland)
• exports ~150,000 tonnes of beef, mainly to EU
• currrently imports less than 2,000 tonnes of beef from Australia

Even if Oz beef imports go up 10 fold, it will be a barely noticeable pin prick in the total market.

The beef market is segmented, not an amorphous whole. At the top end - locally reared grass fed breeds, slaughtered locally, properly hung, and sold at a premium price. The other end of the market - it comes from a cow and goes into cheap burgers and cans.

The losers on the deal are most likely to be EU farmers unable to compete with Oz at the volume end of the market.

 

[D_W]

There are some really tasty alternatives to meat nowadays. 'Beyond Meat' burgers are amazing.

Horribly unhealthy, though.

 

[selectortone]

Horribly unhealthy, though.

Meat lobby lies? It must be true, you read it on the internet.

Edit: btw, I'm not a vegetarian but if there's a decent alternative to eating dead animals I'll take it.

With apologies to the OP for straying off topic.

 

[D_W]

Look at the nutritional profile. The meat lobby in the US is invested in developing and/or marketing fake meats, too.

 

[Argus]

It can be washed in chlorine.

Works on chicken...... apparently.