<story><title>RCEP, the world’s biggest trade agreement</title><url>https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/11/15/the-meaning-of-rcep-the-worlds-biggest-trade-agreement</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cocoland2</author><text>Sure , I am from India.&lt;p&gt;The diary sector in India is largely unorganized , these are managed as daily livelihood for poor income families who have at best a few cows that provide them with livelihood. 
The co-operative sector in India mentioned how imports from NZ will wreck the system , for example the largest co-operative AMUL in India was against RCEP and imports from NZ (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nationalheraldindia.com&amp;#x2F;india&amp;#x2F;rcep-amul-warns-modi-government-letter-to-piyush-goyal-likely-to-fall-on-deaf-ears&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nationalheraldindia.com&amp;#x2F;india&amp;#x2F;rcep-amul-warns-mo...&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;The exact trade rules and local content are in many cases impossible to vet and verify and are in many cases not transparent. And given the sentiment in India , no one will take chances with China</text></item><item><author>nl</author><text>&amp;gt; huge red flags domestically&lt;p&gt;Probably useful to specify what country you are in.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Diary[sic] &amp;amp; associated products from NZ to India&lt;p&gt;NZ dairy is generally considered high quality and good cost, so it is unclear what the problem is here&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Chinese goods getting re-routed through Vietnam&lt;p&gt;People say this like customs enforcement agencies don&amp;#x27;t know about this. In some cases this is acceptable, but it depends on the exact trade rules about the amount of local content that needs to be added in a country.</text></item><item><author>cocoland2</author><text>There were several caveats in RCEP that were huge red flags domestically. For example , Diary &amp;amp; associated products from NZ to India , Chinese goods getting re-routed through Vietnam (Manufacture a shoe in China , just label it in Vietnam and route to India) etc. that were a problem.
It is worrying that Chinese influence is grappling ASEAN economies , most times it is the worry that they won&amp;#x27;t play fair with smaller trade partners. For once , a lot of people were happy in my state the agreement was not signed.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>andylynch</author><text>Interesting point on Indian dairy co-ops. The NZ dairy industry,  has from the very beginning had a strong co-op focus as well as being concentrated on exports, even as its beginnings in the nineteenth century.&lt;p&gt;Despite great pushes over the last forty years this remains in modern form to the present day and is seen by NZ farmers as an essential part of their success, as this has allowed them to pool resources and invest in the vertical integration (transport, factories, shipping) to compete overseas. 
A similar structure also exists in other countries (US with DFA milk, Denmark &amp;amp; Sweden with Arla are also in the top ten global dairy companies)&lt;p&gt;Until the early 1980s, NZ also operated a very protectionist trade policy dependent on access to traditional markets which ultimately failed badly. This experience and the (painful) resulting changes is a major reason why NZ is  such a proponent of trade agreements and multilaterality more generally on the global stage.</text></comment>
<story><title>RCEP, the world’s biggest trade agreement</title><url>https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/11/15/the-meaning-of-rcep-the-worlds-biggest-trade-agreement</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cocoland2</author><text>Sure , I am from India.&lt;p&gt;The diary sector in India is largely unorganized , these are managed as daily livelihood for poor income families who have at best a few cows that provide them with livelihood. 
The co-operative sector in India mentioned how imports from NZ will wreck the system , for example the largest co-operative AMUL in India was against RCEP and imports from NZ (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nationalheraldindia.com&amp;#x2F;india&amp;#x2F;rcep-amul-warns-modi-government-letter-to-piyush-goyal-likely-to-fall-on-deaf-ears&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.nationalheraldindia.com&amp;#x2F;india&amp;#x2F;rcep-amul-warns-mo...&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;p&gt;The exact trade rules and local content are in many cases impossible to vet and verify and are in many cases not transparent. And given the sentiment in India , no one will take chances with China</text></item><item><author>nl</author><text>&amp;gt; huge red flags domestically&lt;p&gt;Probably useful to specify what country you are in.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Diary[sic] &amp;amp; associated products from NZ to India&lt;p&gt;NZ dairy is generally considered high quality and good cost, so it is unclear what the problem is here&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Chinese goods getting re-routed through Vietnam&lt;p&gt;People say this like customs enforcement agencies don&amp;#x27;t know about this. In some cases this is acceptable, but it depends on the exact trade rules about the amount of local content that needs to be added in a country.</text></item><item><author>cocoland2</author><text>There were several caveats in RCEP that were huge red flags domestically. For example , Diary &amp;amp; associated products from NZ to India , Chinese goods getting re-routed through Vietnam (Manufacture a shoe in China , just label it in Vietnam and route to India) etc. that were a problem.
It is worrying that Chinese influence is grappling ASEAN economies , most times it is the worry that they won&amp;#x27;t play fair with smaller trade partners. For once , a lot of people were happy in my state the agreement was not signed.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>stirlo</author><text>Sorry but that&amp;#x27;s what free trade means.&lt;p&gt;If NZ produces dairy products more efficiently then they deserve the benefits. At the same time in India where manufacturing is far more efficient they have the opportunity to export as many manufactured goods to NZ as they want.&lt;p&gt;If the Indian government wants to tax their manufacturers to provide support to their now unemployed dairy farmers they are free to do so but ultimately both countries are better off with India paying overall less for dairy and NZ paying less for manufactured goods.</text></comment>