NEW MARKETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 122, 25 May 1937, Page 10

NEW MARKETS

BRITAIN AND U.S.A.

TRADE PRINCIPLES

THE N.Z. OUTLOOK

Some of the problems that will be faced when the principles of the proposed Anglo-American trade agreement are announced were touched on in interviews with Wellington business men. Though certain facts are realised, and the I British view on some important points is realised, apparently the position is viewed with no apprehension. A possibility of separate trade agreements with the Dominion is envisaged, also some modification of tariff walls, with additional openings for New Zealand meat, while increased population in New Zealand is urged as a means of increased local consumption, as well as the road to assisting the Empire, and at the same lime securing the Dominion the dignity of an economic unit. "To those in New Zealand who have not followed developments with regard to the Ottawa Agreements and Empire' trade, and who have viewed the agreements as establishing a state of affairs so desirable as not to require any alteration, the news concerning a proposed Anglo-American agreement which must affect the' Ottawa Agreements will come almost as a shock," said the President of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, of New Zealmid (Mr. M. G. C. McCaul). However, there are certain points to be considered. "The Association of British Chambers of Commerce, in a memorandum on the Ottawa Agreements which it issued a year -ago, said that the underlying principle of economic co-opera-tion between different parts of the Empire which had been accepted in the Agreements should receive wholehearted support, but it also stated that a committee of the association had found (1) that while statistics showed increases in United Kingdom trade with Empire countries, some important United Kingdom trades had not benefited; (2) that in some instances there,had been considerable increases in the imports into the United Kingdom of manufactured goods from particular Dominions; (3) that there was a considerable, amount of dissatisfaction among the representatives of many industries with the way in which v the articles of the agreement had been implemented, as well as with the method adopted by, and with the working of. the tariff boards; (4) that apart from the methods and procedure of the tariff boards, few concrete advantages U,x United Kingdom manufactures had flowed in practice from the attempts to operate the tariff board clauses of the Ottawa Agreements; (£D that, with regard to depreciated currency, in some cases where no inquiry had been held in connection with , fixing the level of tariffs, that level, as adjusted by the Special Exchange Allowance, had not been' sufficiently, reduced to compensate for the depreciation referred to. ALL NOT WELL WITH OTTAWA. "It is therefore to be seen that, from the standpoint of the United Kingdom, everything is not as well as it might be with the Ottawa Agreements. Even the British Chancellor is stated to have said: 'I can understand objection to the Ottawa Agreements on the ground that they gave too much to the Dominior* and not' enough to Great Britain.1 I am riot arguing-vthe case for Britain as against that for New Zealand, nor do I suggest for one moment that Britain, with an Anglo-American agreement in view, is impinging to some extent on the Ottawa preferences from any sense of resentment against her other Empire partners, but Britain is a vast exporting country in need of markets, and when the facts are reflected on. the reasons for the projected agreement with America become understandable. The cable mentions additional reasons, such as natural limits to the absorbability of the British market for the Dominions, and the need for close co-operation between England and America in the face of European dangers. "As to the position of New Zealand in the matter, a great deal depends on the attitude of Britain herself as to whether she is prepared to come to separate and individual agreements with the1 Dominions, or whether she will hold fast to her attitude in favour of multi-lateral agreements. The Association of British Chambers of Commerce is of opinion that new agreements should preferably be negotiated with each of the Dominions separately —a view supported by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire in Wellington last October —and, if that were done, New Zealand would be able to put up a good case as the largest buyer of British goods per head of population. New Zealand's representatives have gone Home with the hope that such agreements will eventuate. TARIFF WALLS QUAKING? "The proposed Anglo-American trade agreement has some very interesting aspects," continued Mr. McCaul. "The great American, market has been so hedged around 'with tariffs that this agreement may well mark the beginning of a new era, and one with distinct possibilities for New Zealand. If America is prepared to bargain with the United Kingdom she may well be prepared to-do so with other parts of the Empire. For instance, last year the United States Government debarred foreign meat concerns from tendering for the supply of meat to the United States Army, and it may well be that the achievement of better trade relations with America 'would give New Zealand opportunities formerly denied. There are other directions in which America could beneficially trade with New Zealand. American business opinion has long been stirring in favour of a reducton of America's tariff barriers. If the present negotiations between America and Britain prove fruitful, it may well presage a change in the world practice, particularly during the depression, of turning the different countries into a series of walled estates not unlike those of the Dark Ages. This would be all in favour, of New Zealand in the task that seems to be coming closer to her, that of finding new markets." OF MUTUAL ADVANTAGE. '"I am of the opinion that New Zealand need not look with any alarm at the outcome of the Anglo-American talks upon a possible trade agreement with the United States," said Sir Charles Norwood, president of the' Wellington Chamber of Commerce, when asked for his comments on the cabled report from London. % "Anyone who has watched the trend of commitments in the incidence .of trade between the United States and Great Britain, much of which is. invisible in the ordinary sense, arising out of large British capital investments throughout the United States, must see that it is an economic necessity for both countries that there should be a trade agreement which, considering the state of things in the