With the current economic suitation around the world Should

[BRZ]

Should the government take steps to re-introduce additional Import duties on items that have locally manufactured goods that compete?

After all the local businesses are what will save our country.

[eliteauto]

no, open market competitiveness breeds innovation, to close the market is to encourage sub-standard work to be accepted, fact is T&T businesses are very slow to adapt

[88sins]

so you thinking to essentially create & promote a monopoly for local manfacturers?

truth be told is mostly when ppl getting better quality goods, or similar quality at a lower price they opt to import goods.
your idea sounds good in theory, but remember this is Trinidad. do that & yuh go see how fast the retail price of a lot of items go skyrocket. not to mention the negative impact it would have on the relationship we maintain with certain nations we do a lot of trade with in both directions.

[zoom rader]

no, open market competitiveness breeds innovation, to close the market is to encourage sub-standard work to be accepted, fact is T&T businesses are very slow to adapt

Ent Peaks still have a monopoly on Air con units?

Trinidad cement also have a monopoly over imported cement.

Same as New car dealers now have a monopoly on cars.

Trini is still a close market., now we back to buying local. I don't mind buying local but it has to be on parr with the open market.

A closed market leads to sub standardisation. It's a knife edge cause local jobs are affected and now we foriegn exchange to protect.

[VexXx Dogg]

no, open market competitiveness breeds innovation, to close the market is to encourage sub-standard work to be accepted, fact is T&T businesses are very slow to adapt

this.

[88sins]

I don't mind buying local but it has to be on parr with the open market.

& yuh gonna wind up paying at least 5x what you could have got it for if you had imported it & the excuse the local manufacturers would use is increased costs to bring it up to standard with what's considered higher quality items on the international market.

[zoom rader]

I don't mind buying local but it has to be on parr with the open market.

& yuh gonna wind up paying at least 5x what you could have got it for if you had imported it & the excuse the local manufacturers would use is increased costs to bring it up to standard with what's considered higher quality items on the international market.

You see the problem is two fold.
Trini manufacturers goods in TT dollars and sells in US dollars
Locals then want to sell us in the US dollar price.

[desifemlove]

no...i presume you heard of the WTO.

but protectionism wins, ent?

[Dizzy28]

Trinidad and Tobago is a signatory to a number of trade agreements either as a single country or as a member of Caricom. In a lot of those agreements not only do our goods attract preferential treatment but there has to be reciprocation whereby those countires goods received preferential treatment as well. So any import duties would have to be looked at in the context of those agreements. The EU EPA for example would mean than soon all EU imports to Trinidad falling within the allowed schedule would have to have tariff reductions over the course of 25 years.

At least we do not have too much agreements so we only need to follow WTO guidelines.

[sMASH]

you need a careful balance of both, based on what is available.
on one hand, if a foreign product or service is cheaper than what is available locally, reducing its benefit by restriction or taxation, causes the purchaser to not get more value for money. they have less purchasing power and potentially have a worse standard of living. also, their spending and sharing the wealth is reduced as well.
on the other hand, if more business is sent abroad, the local economy would still shrink and many people would not have a source of income.

its a tricky balance to decide what to encourage and what to discourage.

the avenues allowing citizens to have more purchase power and subsequently more disposable income, would help more to prop the local economy. what needs to be done with the local producers, is to help them get started and develop a competitive business model, and out-compete the foreigners.

[desifemlove]

there is no preferential treatment, but free trade. in CARICOM or between the EU (which i dobn't think exists, CARICOM ent ratify it yet. I don't think WTO membership, nor CSME, allows for protectionism. If we stop Guyanese dasheen or fruits, they stop imports of our ting to them. doesn't serve anybody's interests in trade wars or tit for tat disputes.

But then which products? should people here make cars, or TV sets, or computers? This is a tricky scenario with no easy solution, or why does there need to be solutions? the issue is identifying areas for export, which are numerous.

[fallen_angel]

trinidad business men lazy and greedy and would look for any excuse to dig out the consumers eyes and make a huge profit...give them an inch they wud take a mile

[wetfowl]

Ok thanks
Drink more STAG beer

And build up the economy, ,,,,