I was not clear in my original posting, what I really meant to say was the trade liberalization was very good to Australia because it needs market access and ge

I was not clear in my original posting, what I really meant to say was the trade liberalization was very good to Australia because it needs market access and geography provides a natural barrier to local market access. Removing Australian tariffs on goods was beneficial to other countries but the reciprocation was worth a lot more to the Australian economy because it produces so much that it absolutely must export (or leave in the ground/waste). For example if you are Japan trading access to the car market in Australia for unencumbered steel imports Australia wins, Japan needs a lot more steel for their manufacturing base than Australian consumers will ever need Japanese cars. (Yes, that example is a bit contrived, but I think it demonstrates my point.)