17-09-2015, 07:48 AM
BHP Billiton’s Andrew Mackenzie warns on growth
[Image: 124963-7c02e056-5cbb-11e5-8de3-ef21996958ae.jpg]
“Protectionism is the grit in the engine,” says BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie.Source: News Corp Australia
[b]The head of the world’s largest mining company warns a slump in international trade will jeopardise global growth just as major economies are struggling to prevent another downturn.[/b]
Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of BHP Billiton, said trade restrictions such as the US crude oil export ban were hampering global commerce — which is lagging far behind its historical pace of expansion — and would limit job growth and stifle innovation. He cautioned governments worldwide against introducing new barriers, such as tariffs on steel, to protect domestic industries.
“Protectionism is the grit in the engine,” Mr Mackenzie said in a speech in Washington, according to prepared remarks seen in advance by The Wall Street Journal. “Job creation, economic growth and innovation: All are jeopardised by the pressure placed on global trade over the last decade.”
Economists say a dearth of major new trade agreements and the erection of extra barriers after the global financial crisis have curtailed exports globally. The World Trade Organisation is expected to cut its 2015 trade forecast a second time after a sudden contraction in trade during the first half of the year — the first in six years.
The International Monetary Fund is preparing to downgrade its outlook for global growth this year, already at its weakest since the financial crisis. “Growth is too low, productivity is too low, trade numbers are too low, investment is too low, infrastructure projects are too few, and the only thing that is too high is unemployment,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said earlier this month.
Several of the world’s largest emerging markets are already in recession or facing sharply slowing growth. Countries reliant on resource exports such as Canada and Australia have also seen their economies slow or contract in recent times, official data show.
Ms Lagarde said earlier this month that policymakers needed to act with a renewed sense of urgency.
In the US, more than a dozen energy companies, including ConocoPhillips, have been pressing Congress to lift the nation’s four-decade moratorium on oil exports. House Republicans plan to vote in the coming weeks on a bill to lift the ban, although the White House opposes it.
“If the US revises its policies on the trade in natural resources, particularly the crude oil export ban, it will be a stand for open markets,” Mr Mackenzie said. Removing the oil export ban would reduce the price consumers pay to fill up their cars with gas, he said.
The mining chief said politicians in many countries had engaged in a “clamour for protectionism” since the financial crisis, in various attempts to shore up their nations’ economic fortunes.
Most recently, steelmakers in the US have sought import tariffs to protect the domestic industry from increased exports of cheap Chinese steel.
“We need not fear the global trade that makes the growth of China, India and other emerging economies possible,” Mr Mackenzie said. “Their continued development will create jobs, raise productivity and lift living standards in the US and beyond.”
In Australia, critics of a new free trade pact with Beijing are demanding it be killed by Parliament because they contend it threatens jobs. “But I say free trade doesn’t take jobs; it makes them,” Mr Mackenzie said.
The Australian government signed the agreement with China, the country’s biggest trading partner, this year after a decade of negotiations.
Mr Mackenzie also urged politicians to resuscitate talks for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that would span the Pacific. A spat over which cars should be eligible for duty-free trade surfaced during high-level talks in July, holding up an agreement that Mr Mackenzie said would “seriously benefit global economic growth.”
Dow Jones
- DOW JONES
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 7:33AM
[Image: 124963-7c02e056-5cbb-11e5-8de3-ef21996958ae.jpg]
“Protectionism is the grit in the engine,” says BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie.Source: News Corp Australia
[b]The head of the world’s largest mining company warns a slump in international trade will jeopardise global growth just as major economies are struggling to prevent another downturn.[/b]
Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive of BHP Billiton, said trade restrictions such as the US crude oil export ban were hampering global commerce — which is lagging far behind its historical pace of expansion — and would limit job growth and stifle innovation. He cautioned governments worldwide against introducing new barriers, such as tariffs on steel, to protect domestic industries.
“Protectionism is the grit in the engine,” Mr Mackenzie said in a speech in Washington, according to prepared remarks seen in advance by The Wall Street Journal. “Job creation, economic growth and innovation: All are jeopardised by the pressure placed on global trade over the last decade.”
Economists say a dearth of major new trade agreements and the erection of extra barriers after the global financial crisis have curtailed exports globally. The World Trade Organisation is expected to cut its 2015 trade forecast a second time after a sudden contraction in trade during the first half of the year — the first in six years.
The International Monetary Fund is preparing to downgrade its outlook for global growth this year, already at its weakest since the financial crisis. “Growth is too low, productivity is too low, trade numbers are too low, investment is too low, infrastructure projects are too few, and the only thing that is too high is unemployment,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said earlier this month.
Several of the world’s largest emerging markets are already in recession or facing sharply slowing growth. Countries reliant on resource exports such as Canada and Australia have also seen their economies slow or contract in recent times, official data show.
Ms Lagarde said earlier this month that policymakers needed to act with a renewed sense of urgency.
In the US, more than a dozen energy companies, including ConocoPhillips, have been pressing Congress to lift the nation’s four-decade moratorium on oil exports. House Republicans plan to vote in the coming weeks on a bill to lift the ban, although the White House opposes it.
“If the US revises its policies on the trade in natural resources, particularly the crude oil export ban, it will be a stand for open markets,” Mr Mackenzie said. Removing the oil export ban would reduce the price consumers pay to fill up their cars with gas, he said.
The mining chief said politicians in many countries had engaged in a “clamour for protectionism” since the financial crisis, in various attempts to shore up their nations’ economic fortunes.
Most recently, steelmakers in the US have sought import tariffs to protect the domestic industry from increased exports of cheap Chinese steel.
“We need not fear the global trade that makes the growth of China, India and other emerging economies possible,” Mr Mackenzie said. “Their continued development will create jobs, raise productivity and lift living standards in the US and beyond.”
In Australia, critics of a new free trade pact with Beijing are demanding it be killed by Parliament because they contend it threatens jobs. “But I say free trade doesn’t take jobs; it makes them,” Mr Mackenzie said.
The Australian government signed the agreement with China, the country’s biggest trading partner, this year after a decade of negotiations.
Mr Mackenzie also urged politicians to resuscitate talks for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that would span the Pacific. A spat over which cars should be eligible for duty-free trade surfaced during high-level talks in July, holding up an agreement that Mr Mackenzie said would “seriously benefit global economic growth.”
Dow Jones