This refers to a Business Recorder news item "FTA with China: Country paying `price of friendship'." According to this news item, Senate Standing Committee on Commerce has observed that Pakistan is paying a "friendship" price of $10 billion dollar per annum in trade with China under Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as is evident from figurers claimed by the Chinese side. This news item further tells the newspaper readers that the committee headed by Senator Syed Shibli Fraz gave this observation during a discussion on the Anti-Dumping Ordinance 2015 of the National Tariff Commission (NTC). The committee unanimously approved the amended Anti-Dumping Ordinance 2015 to be laid before the Senate shortly.
"Secretary Commerce Shahzad Arbab confirmed that there is a gap of around $5-6 billion in trade figures of China and Pakistan, adding that a study conducted by Pakistan Business Council (PBC) also authenticates the wide difference in figures. Senator Salim Mandviwala maintained that on the one hand there is a trade gap of $4-5 billion between China and Pakistan and on the other a gap of $4-5 billion in trade figures has been reported by China which implies Pakistan is losing $10 billion per annum in trade with China."
The news item constitutes a sardonic and grim comment on country's policymaking in the realms of international trade. How could a country like Pakistan afford such a huge trade deficit, although it is a matter of an intense debate how free trade ensures the same playing rules for a competition and whether it can ensure a fair competition for the all the parties involved? Our policymakers must not lose sight of the fact that the price for a free trade is more expensive than the benefits it brings. There is, therefore, a need for revisiting all FTAs that the country has so far inked with several countries, including China.
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