US shouldn't try to control open markets

The United States should bolster free trade and not try to restrict international commerce in its goods and services, a top Dubai official said.

"If the US is looking to improve trade relations with the UAE, they should extend credit facilities to companies and not sell products with restrictions," Juma Al Majid, chairman of the Dubai Economic Council and a leading UAE businessman, told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.

He also proposed that US credits to companies should be guaranteed by UAE banks.

Al Majid opposed moves by the US to control trade in its goods to countries which have been targeted with trade restrictions. "The US should not sell us products and then restrict us from exporting them to any country. The US should not sell such products to merchants, they should keep them in their market if they will impose restrictions on those merchants later on. The [US] can't impose restrictions on open markets."

Al Majid emphasised that the UAE is an open market and Dubai is an international trading city. It is not right for merchants to be questioned once they have exported their goods as it would be difficult for them to trace the products, he said. The UAE had always worked hard to eliminate barriers to international commerce, he observed.

He pointed out that Dubai and the US enjoyed exceptional commercial relations with a huge volume of transactions between them. The UAE re-exports nearly 70 per cent of products imported from around the world, he said. "If the US wants its products to stay in the UAE market and increase their trade volume with the UAE, they should help [facilitate the import and export or their goods],"