“Taranaki Central Press” WEDNESDAY, APRIL. 7, 1937. EMPIRE TRADE DANGER.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 401, 7 April 1937, Page 4

“Taranaki Central Press” WEDNESDAY, APRIL. 7, 1937. EMPIRE TRADE DANGER.

o New trading conditions within the British Empire may be an outcome of discussions to be held in London in the next few months. The Ottawa policy may be profoundly modified. The British Government is anxious to negotiate a tariff agreement with the United States and the Americans are ready, but the existing Imperial trade policy is held to be a bar to progress. Under Acts of Congress of 1930 and 1934 the President has authority to raise or lower duties by as much as 50 per cent., and no fewer than fourteen reciprocal trade agreements have /been negotiated. The authority under the 1934 Act was granted for three years and will expire this year. Probably if the recovery of America’s foreign trade continues the authority will not be renewed, and there is a strong movement in both London and Washington to bring negotiations to a head promptly. The Ottawa agreements and the principles enunciated at Ottawa are held to stand in the way, because the concessions that the Americans are seeking refer chiefly to agricultural products, though motor-cars and machinery generally are also under discussion. The Economist thinks that reductions in the tariff on manufactured products will be very stoutly resisted by British industries, and the inference is that concessions are more likely to be made on commodities in which the Dominions are most interested meat and wheat. Not the least important phase of the Imperial Conference will be the discussion of this problem, and as the progress of the negotiations with the United States wi’l depend on the decisions of the conference, its proceedings will be watched with more than usual interest. The fact that this issue would be raised must have been known in London at the end of January, but for some reason it has hitherto been given no publicity.