Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prӕvalebit THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1947. TRADE TREATY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 28, 13 November 1947, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prӕvalebit THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1947. TRADE TREATY

An event which attracted far less interest or comment than really should have been accorded it at the time was the signing in Geneva recently of what was described by a correspondent as “the greatest multilateral trade treaty ever negotiated, binding Britain, the United States and 21 other countries to tariff reductions covering well over half the world's trade." The signing of this treaty, which was the outcome of almost two years of deliberations and negotiations saw the realisation of United Nations international trade co-operation. Its implementation will constitute the first step toward the removal of trade barriers, and the setting up of new expanded world economy. The conception of this new economy was first formulated in February, 1942, in the Mutual Aid Agreement between Britain and the United States of America, which pledged partners to work towards “the expansion, by appropriate international and domestic measures, of production, employment, exchange and consumption of goods; the elimination of all forms of discriminatory treatment in • international commerce and to the reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers." For almost four years the project was left in abeyance, until in December, 1945, Britain and the United States announced the proposals for the setting up of an international conference on trade and employment. Two months later the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations met in London to appoint a preparatory committee. This committee, on which 18 nations accounting for 65 to 70 per cent of the world’s trade were represented, held its first meetings in the following October in London. Proposals for . tariff reductions were drawn up and discussed, and when the six weeks’ session was ended delegates returned to , lay their tentative conclusions before their respective Governments. They met again at Geneva in April of this year. In August they announced the draft charter of the International Trade Organisation which will be considered at Havana this month. New Zealand will be represented at this conference. The tariff negotiations were no doubt influenced by the downward drift of the international economic situation, but the huge concessions agreed to are designed to check this drift and stimulate trade generally. Above all, *it represents a big step forward in practical economic cooperation which has been so lacking in all spheres of world activity.