Cave Martins sloped into the corridor, obviously disgruntled at being there: as foreign minister for Panageadom, he had had to see over two previous messy withdrawals from the W.A., and, like most Panageans, had little love for the organisation, not least for its arcane legislative traditions that he had little knowledge of. However, political pressure from the Liberal Coalition's left wing and the board of directors at Panageaic Uranium had forced him to float an idea that had been sitting on the books for several years, and he pinned the drafted notice to the pock-marked wall.
Global Free Trade Agreement
Category: Free trade; Strength: Strong
Recognising that the welfare of its citizens should be one of, if not the, primary concerns of national governments.
Noting that such welfare is best served by an environment that is both peaceful and prosperous, especially in the basic consumer goods which citizens rely on to survive.
Further noting that free trade serves these aims admirably, by ensuring a system where, for free-enterprise economies, consumers may buy these goods at the lowest possible prices, in real terms, and that, by promoting a spirit of international cooperation and interdependence, free trade ensures destructive wars are less likely to emerge.
Noting in addition that free trade is likely to cause rapid growth in backward economies by ensuring healthy competition and investment from foreign sources.
Recognising that for statist economies, such policies are of limited effect, as the state, as the consumer of foreign goods, may still choose to purchase whichever foreign goods they please, regardless of price and/or real-world utility: as such, this agreement would not compromise their ability to act as the arbiter of their national economy.
Insisiting that free trade, especially in basic foodstuffs, as it is so fundamental to assuring the basic wellbeing of citizens in rich countries and poor, must overule the legitimate demands of member nations for national economic sovreignty.
Further Noting that such claims for free trade to be a legitimate goal of a supranational body are strengthened by the evidence that free trade is more effective when perpetuated as a large group of nations working in concert, rather than severally.
Hereby:
1: Extends the "external" terms (i.e. the reduction of tariffs on goods imported into a nation from abroad) of this resolution to imported goods from all nations, WA or not, who comply with WA regulations on labour and trade presently in effect and without repeal, such as they may exist. Naturally, "internal" clauses can only apply to nations bound by WA Resolutions. Terms will not be enforced on nations in a state of military conflict.
2: Demands a) that nations place no restrictive tariffs on basic consumer goods, such as food, water, building materials, basic medicine, more broadly defined as all goods without which the citizen could not survive, to enable their access at the lowest possible price.
b) that nations place a tariff rate of no more than 25% of average global market value on any other consumer product.
3: Insists a) that no nation give any artificial subsidies to industries deemed vital to the production of basic consumer goods within their nation, most notably agriculture.
b) that no nation place anything more than 15% of subsidies of the market value of the product on any given product, except where that product is deemed neccesary to either a) the stability of the nation (for example, policing equipment, military expenditure) or b) the wellbeing of its populace (educational provision, healthcare products).
4: Encourages nations which have statist economies, where these reforms will have little to no effect, to purchase goods from the international marketplace in situations where such purchase will have beneficial effects on the wellbeing of their populace, over that of domestic production.
