Aliya Belgibayeva said
>Regarding non-tariff barriers for import...huh, Japan is not the only
>country that does it. How about bananas and EC? And what about India
>with its against-patent regulations, and even US (regulations regarding
>textile and apparel products aimed against EC)?
oh well, as long as everyone does it that is fine then ... ?
BTW: the USA is one of the worst, most hypocritical offenders. New Zealand (one of the most free economies in the world now that Hong Kong is inside China) is routinely threatened by the US State and Trade officials. Some of it is overt and written (quotas to protect inefficient US farmers, attempts to allow US manufacturers to restrict imports of good into New Zealand to single suppliers so they can leverage the prices up in New Zealand relative to US retail), however, much of it is along the lines of "gee ... if much more lamb came stateside this year, something bad might happen to the quotas next year ..."
Land of the free, and parliament of whores, to quote PJ O'Rourke.
cheerio,
tim