WORLD TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3, 5 January 1937, Page 7

WORLD TRADE.

FORWARD SURVEY. Will Goods or Guns Cross Frontiers? ARMS BOOM AND THEN—? United Press Association.—Copyright. LOXDOX, January 1. "If goods don't soon cross frontiers, armies will." In these words, a London business man summed up the international trade position. It is widely felt that despite the marked trade recovery in Britain— largely based on armaments expenditure —the outlook is not reassuring in view of the world-wide restrictions on commerce. It was believed that as the depression passed, the shackles would be removed, or at least the leg-irons would be made lighter, but those concerned complain that there is a widespread tendency to stiffen up economic nationalism, even allowing for attempts by the United States to secure lower tariffs by agreements throughout the Americas and elsewhere and for British trade treaties with various countries, some lowering inter-Empire barriers. Curiously enough international trade is freer in raw materials and armaments than in most other things. A cynic might suggest tTiat this free trade in death is a gesture of gratitude on the part of the leading nations for internal recovery and the decrease in unemployment caused by the rearmament race which is not yet nearly over. If war does not come to speed up things, it will be two years before Britain's rearmament passes its peak and when that happens, what will follow if outlets for the products of the plants at present engaged on armamentmaking are still blocked? To a certain extent, the armaments boom has been responsible for an increased demand and higher prices for foodstuffs and raw materials, though undoubtedly there is a genuine world need for these things which would mean a permanently improved outlook if it were not for the cross-currents in national policies. While restrictions are being loosened in the production,of some commodities, it is suggested that the tea restriction scheme may be extended beyond 1938. However, efforts to rope in producers still outside the scheme, such as China and Japan, have so far proved unsuccessful. Finally, it is suggested that some nations may soon refuse to accept the alternative "guns or butter,*' and may say, "If you have guns can get butter."