Job Discussion Forums

[Blade]

I have been hearing comments about the impast both good and bad of Vietnam joining the WTO. I have been trying to find good reading on it, but can't.

Anyone care to comment? The good, and the bad?

[Mr Wind-up Bird]

The only benefit I can see is a selfish one, namely the slashing of import duties on wine imports Otherwise, it has to be remembered that the WTO is basically a battering ram for US/EU corporate interests and thus does not have Vietnam's best interests at heart.

We're already seeing the disastrous effect of the WTO policy on car import tax - Vietnam has been forced to cut the import tax on new cars and to allow the importing of used cars, and thus the traffic is getting much, much worse. Expect rice growers to hit hard times once cheap US rice grown by heavily subsidised farmers starts to flood in.

This would all be well and good if US/EU countries lowered their trade barriers in a similar way, but the experience of other developing countries suggests this won't happen, and Vietnamese exporters will find nothing has changed.

[Thay Jim]

I agree with Wind-Up Bird that US and EEU farm subsidies should be eliminated (And I am a Yank who owns farm land!)

WTO membership is absolutely mandatory for any nation wishing to trade outside of its borders. How will Vietnam do? That's up to the Vietnamese to decide. Presently, the so-called "market" economy they have is simply a "chrony-capitalism" home boy network. More competition will shake things up, break up the elitist networks and result in better products being sold at better prices.

The SOE's (State-owned enterprises) are the ones in for a real bruising. But they have drained the national treasury for years. VN is a country with many needs. It cannot afford to subsidise inefficient companies at the expense of investment in the improvement of its infrastructure.

Like it or not, the world is coming closer together, and national borders will eventually become afterthoughts. If VN rolls up its sleeves, hunkers down and gets to work, it will prosper. If it wallows in the past and tries to delay the inevitable, it will flounder.

[Joe Dolce]

[ChuckECheese]

I foresee another financial crisis like in 1998.

[sethness]

I agree, the WTO will be disastrous for VietNam.

As an essentially communist/socialist country, I would have expected VietNam to have strong labor laws and protections for its workers-- but, as Mr Windup Bird says, the WTO is essentially a battering ram for first-world industrialised nations to bring their products to 3rd world countries, and -- far more importantly-- for the corporate headquarters in those industrialized nations to export their labor/factory needs to whatever country will offer the LEAST protection for its workers.

Hence, I expect that entering the WTO will make VietNam a port-a-potty/playground for the worst that capitalism has to offer-- low wages, little labor protection, child labor, etc etc-- much like Nike factories in Indonesia, or Disney subcontractors making Disney spin-off products unsing underpaid, long-hour child labor, for example.

Read more about it-- Google for "blackspot sneakers".

[larryB]

[spycatcher reincarnated]

I am in agreement with LarryB, WTO will be positive for Vietnam.

Yes, WTO will cause Vietnam a number of issues, but it will also drag Vietnam from the dark ages and exports will go ballistic.

As Larry B points out Nike and the likes have been producing here for years. This will surge and will be good for Vietnam.

[sethness]

More manufacturing does not equate with better manufacturing practices and better conditions for the workers.

I'm disappointed to hear that Nike and Disney manufactures in Viet Nam-- Nike is a world-leader in misbehaving toward workers.

I hold to my original opinion-- the WTO will be bad for Viet Nam, because it means that VN will be entering in a big way into a "marketplace" for labor, in which manufacturers play one country against another to get the lowest costs and protections for labor.

[larryB]

[Blade]

[larryB]

[englishgibson]

WTO will be as helpful for VietNam as it's been for China. It'll help increase the gap between rich and poor. It'll exploit the poor. And, those FTs salaries won't change a bit.

Peace to the ones with their opportunities in trade
and
cheers and beers to the honest and truely hard workin' people