4 ms·

China ships tons of products to the US, however the freedom of movement between the two nations are comparatively low compared to the EU.

• ptaipale 10y ago
  And on the other hand countries outside the EU but inside the EEA still have very low barriers to trade - Norway, Switzerland or Iceland are not exactly going down the drain. The rest of Europe still buys crude oil, high-tech cuckoo clocks and fish fingers.
  • paganel 10y ago
    Don't know about Iceland, but Norway and Switzerland have had to actually adopt the EU norms without having any say in how those norms get adopted or decided. That's the reason they didn't go "down the drain", I think you forgot to mention that.
    • ptaipale 10y ago
      Trade norms are not a bad thing, even if some in Britain wanted to continue to sell bananas by the lb. Most everyone is happy with having trade norms, and in particular, having the same norms everywhere (not just in EU but world-wide, starting with things like the metric system). Unfortunately, even within EU the influence of small countries on trade norms is rather negligible. We also get lost of proposals for regulation of things we don't want and could avoid outside the EU. Note that I'm actually for the continued EU membership of my country. I just find it abysmal that the pro-EU camp is often in denial about things and too enthusiastic for deeper integration towards USE.
  • bayesian_horse 10y ago
    Oh, there are barriers to trade with Norway and Switzerland. I faintly remember a butter shortage in Norway because they are trying to protect their extremely uncompetitive dairy industry.
    • ptaipale 10y ago
      Of course. Also there are trade barriers inside the existing EU. Disbanding them is extremely controversial (just imagine what would happen if Bulgarian Uber drivers using Romanian-registered vehicles started to offer rides in Paris.)
      • paganel 10y ago
        > (just imagine what would happen if Bulgarian Uber drivers using Romanian-registered vehicles started to offer rides in Paris.) That's what already happens now, in a way. My brother (I'm from Romania) used to be a farmer his whole life until his early 30s, when our accession and integration into the EU made it very hard for him to live from working his land. That's when he switched jobs and became an international truck driver, because his cows' milk could not compete with the rest of the milk coming from the other EU countries. Right now he's on his way to France, from where he'd probably carry some stuff to the Czech Republic. That's how a single market should work: a Romanian driver working for a Romanian company carrying stuff from France to the Czech, the same as it happens in the States. What's happening with Uber in Paris and the other big French cities is an economic anachronism.
      • Xylakant 10y ago
        > just imagine what would happen if Bulgarian Uber drivers using Romanian-registered vehicles started to offer rides in Paris. That would totally work. It wouldn't make much sense to register the car in Romania though since the registration fees are probably the least of your costs and the hassle outweighs the gain. That's why you're not seeing it. But I regularly get drivers of foreign origin in the cabs I'm taking in Berlin.
        • ptaipale 10y ago
          Yes, for customers it would work. That is why the taxi local drivers would react violently.
          • Xylakant 10y ago
  • makomk 10y ago
    The EEA countries are still required to offer freedom of movement between their countries and the EU. Unlike the UK, Norway's even part of the Schengen Area which abolished boarder control between them and most of Europe, though that's optional.
  • occamrazor 10y ago
    And in fact there is freedom of movement between EU and EFTA (some exceptions apply to Liechtenstein).
• mcv 10y ago
  China and the US are not the EU. Freedom of movement is part of the same deal as the common market. It would be like California deciding they don't want to let people from other US states in.