Economy-
Stock market drop:
- extreme declines in July and September
- last time it dropped this low was in 1997 and 1998
- started in 1/15/200 ended in 10/9/2002
- Very long recovery time, 10th worst crash in U.S. stock market history
- Cause: tech bubble bursting and September 11th attacks
Trade:
Trade Minister Mark Vaile
- “The European Union announced yesterday that it would introduce tariff rate quotas on steel imports of 15 steel product categories for six months. The EU is also investigating whether to impose definitive safeguard import restrictions after six months.”
- “The current issues facing the global steel industry need to be addressed in an orderly and coherent way. Australia’s steel industry has already undertaken extensive restructuring, and is now a competitive supplier. We support international efforts to rationalize uneconomic global steel capacity. But the introduction of import restrictions will only delay these efforts and make genuine restructuring more difficult to achieve.”

Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran: India:
- Import restrictions removed on 714 items
-
- Special economic zones to be set up in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu
- 4 existing export processing zones to be converted to special economic zones
- Diamond traders allowed more foreign exchange
- Import of silk under a special license
- Second-hand capital goods less than 10 years old can be imported directly