CANADA’S TRADE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 July 1938, Page 7

CANADA’S TRADE

BENEFITS OF BILATERAL AGREEMENTS. HAMILTON, Canada. “We must sell with the right hand and buy with the left,” declared Mr R. E. Thorne, prominent Canadian industrialist while presiding at the first Foreign Trade Conference organised by the Canadian Chambers of Commerce. The meeting has attracted outstanding business figures and trade experts from all parts of Canada and it is expected that it will develop into an annual conference. Speaking on the benefits of bilateral trade agreements, Mr Thorne said in part, “By stimulatig the exports of Canadian products and by aiding Canada’s import trade in the specialities of other countries, without undue harm to Canadian industry, all types of commercial and agricultural activity have been assisted and this assistance ultimately must have a profound effect on our entire national economy. Foreign trade, of course, has to rest, if it is to be developed permanently, on this give-and-take basis. . . I see no better way of developing permanently and efficiently our foreign commerce than by negotiating special bilateral treaties. Canada should put forth every effort to trade equitably among the nations on the common ground of mutual advantages.”

Mr. Thorne stressed the necessity for Canadian manufacturers to personally visit the countries in which they wished to sell their products. The main essential in canvassing foreign markets was, in his opinion, “the desirability of the heads of Canadian businesses personally visiting foreign markets and calling on the trade. I have found from experience that, generally speaking, we cannot sit at our desks and sell our goods successfully abroad.” If unable to take a business trip abroad, he advised his listeners before launching out into the export markets to “give heed to the sound marketing advice which is obtainable from our trade commissioners overseas and from many of oui’ banking agencies.”