It is “supported” for small, developing nations to enjoy some form of protectionism because they cannot battle on equal footing against large trading countries, Malaysian Prime Father Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday.
Speaking at a conference in Tokyo, he implied that countries that are still growing need some “freedoms.” In fact, small countries like Malaysia find difficulty in clashing in a free trade world, he said.
“We have to recognize: Just as there are infant industries, there are infant polities, nations which are just beginning to grow. They need to be struck by some privileges, some protection for themselves, because they are not in place to compete with the great trading nations, the great manufacturing countries of the world.”
Moreover, Mahathir declared, countries have been pay off a recompense “lip service” to free trade, while “most countries practice some gentle of restriction.”
For instance, he said, Malaysia has an ambition to produce vehicles, but has hit roadblocks in become a member ofing the markets of other countries, which attach conditions to the import of machines. Germany exports a lot of vehicles to Malaysia, he said, but “Malaysia cannot export calm one single car to Germany.”
Although Malaysia originally joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) switch agreement, the prime minister said he “was not very keen on it” because he mentation it would affect his country adversely. Mahathir added that the U.S., which panned out of the original agreement, “no longer espouses free trade.”
“When the fraternity today talks about free trade, it is quite obvious that balanced the developed countries find that free trade is not so acceptable, peculiarly now in America, where it is actually indulging in protected trade. And if America, a leviathan country with the biggest economy in the world, the richest country, supposes in restriction of trade, it is not justified,” he said.
“But for small countries, it is justified because minuscule countries cannot compete on the same terms as the big countries,” the Malaysian gaffer added.