Session 2: How much should nations be trading internationally? Is the movement towards self sufficiency good for economic growth?
Trade has been a major point of discussion in the news in the past quarter. This has primarily been due to expectations that the United States of America will place high tariffs on various countries with which it had trade deficits. This announcement of tariffs is expected on 2nd April, 2025. As a result of this in addition to the trend towards self sufficiency in the South Asia region (India's Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India scheme, Bangladesh diversifying its exports away from only garments), SAYDF organized a session on the optimal amount of trade for a nation.
In this session students presented various arguments and viewpoints both in support of as well as against a high amount of trade. The students who supported more trade highlighted how trade helps customers gain access to a larger variety of goods and services. Moreover, they also highlighted how it allows nations to not only be dependent on goods from one source but instead a variety of sources. One of the participants from India also stated that trade has various other cascading effects too such as better relationships between nations, as well as an intermixing of cultures. At the same time, the opponents of trade highlighted how trade can lead to one nation being dependent on another. The participant from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh stated that this was one of the reasons that their countries refused to approve the South Asia Free Trade Agreement as then goods from India would flood their markets, causing them to be dependent on India. Moreover, they also argued that such concerns as well as the deteriorating relationships between countries is one of the main reasons for why nations have decided to be more self sufficient and reduce trade - giving the example of the USA expecting to impose tariffs on countries across the globe.
In the end this discussion was a success as it not only brought out various arguments with respect to trade and self sufficiency but also brought out insights from the participants local backgrounds, highlighting the diverse nature of South Asia.
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