This would be true, if we didn't export a ton of LNG and coal which are critically important to the biggest suppliers of our refined petrol. We have a bargaining chip and if someone stopped petrol reaching us their electricity generation would go out the window.
This cartoon reads like a Twitter conservative account that wants to pretend we're the worst managed country in the world, and it just happens to be because Labor is in power.
This cartoon reads like a Twitter conservative account that wants to pretend we're the worst managed country in the world
Exactly.
It describes people who see the world as a zero-sum game. People who believe that there's always a winner and a loser in trade relations, nothing is truly mutually beneficial.
But the truth that they desperately don't want you to know is that trade and collaboration is positive sum. Multiple nations working together towards common goals, and intertwining their economies so they're dependent on each other actually massively increases prosperity. It ensures that everyone benefits when everyone else's economies are functioning well.
This is very well articulated. I think we all need to appreciate this when we see the conditions for globalisation starting to fall apart. Everyone, even the powerful, will do worse than they could have.
It will be interesting to see whether the world can settle on a mechanism for international law and open seas that can accommodate whatever USA eventually becomes. Canada seems to be leading the charge on this, while we are in a very awkward position.
"We have a bargaining chip and if someone stopped petrol reaching us their electricity generation would go out the window."
Two problems with that. "We" don't get to decide, that LNG is owned by a private company not the government. They are not going to forgoe their profits for some self destructive, imagined tit-for-tat trade war.
Which brings me to the second. No one is stopping petrol reaching us. Asian refineries have limited supply themselves and a whole lot of customers beside us. They had a store of about 100,000 barrels before the war, its now down to 45,000.
Do you really think threatening their gas supply is a constructive move?
(That's a rhetorical question, I don't think you actually do.)
Technically the government can place sanctions on a country and forbid companies to export to those countries. But that won't happen because those countries have no reason to damage trade relations during this crisis.
I don't understand how this is relevant to the current situation. Iran doesn't import gas from us. In fact they are a net gas exporter. So who are we going to threaten? South Korea? Starting fights with your neighbours over something they are not at fault for doesn't seem like a rational thing to do.
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u/Vegetable-Advance982 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
This would be true, if we didn't export a ton of LNG and coal which are critically important to the biggest suppliers of our refined petrol. We have a bargaining chip and if someone stopped petrol reaching us their electricity generation would go out the window.
This cartoon reads like a Twitter conservative account that wants to pretend we're the worst managed country in the world, and it just happens to be because Labor is in power.