BRITISH TRADE POLICY

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 25021, 1 November 1946, Page 7

BRITISH TRADE POLICY

OBJECTIONS BY U.S. SECTIONS OF ARGENTINE PACT (Ree. 9 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 30. The United States has objected to Britain regarding sections of the Bri-tish-Argentine economic agreement which in the view of Administration officials appear to violate'the promises Britain made in obtaining the loan of 3,750,000,000 dollars,” says the Associated Press. “Officials said objections had already been expressed orally and the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr J. W. Snyder) intended to follow up the arguments with a letter to London seeking an explanation of one of the provisions in the British-Argentine pact.

“The Under-Secretary of State (Mr William Clayton) discussed certain American objections to the trade, provisions of the pact with the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Dr. Hugh Dalton) when the latter visited Washington recently. The State Department and the Treasury are dealing jointly with the British-Argentine agreement 'which was concluded on September 1? in Euei.os Aires.

“Mr Snyder in his letter will direct attention to provisions preventing the Argentine from spending blocked sterling where she desires in certain circumstances. Britain promises under this clause to release some of the money she owes Argentina if Argentina buys more from Britain and the sterling block countries than she sells to them. American officials consider this violates the pledge that Britain will permit all such freed sterling to be converted into any type of currency a country may wish. United States officials acknowledge that on the basis of pre-war trade figures the clause might never become operative, but they feel such provisions would be harmful to trade as a whole if inserted into later agreements which Britain intends to negotiate. “The State Department’s trade policy makers have also told Britain that they dislike the long-term exclusive basis of the four-year meat agreement with Argentina under which Britain buys 83 per cent, of all Argentina’s exportable meat for the first year and 78 per cent, thereafter. The United States maintains that such an agreement coupled with similar exclusive pacts with. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, tends to create a trade pattern which conflicts with the United States policy of multilateral trade. Both Britain and France pledged themselves to support American trading theories during the loan negotiations with the United States.”