INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25159, 15 April 1947, Page 7

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Work of Proposed Organisation PRINCIPLES ATTACKED

(NZ. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 10 pm.) GENEVA, April 14. Mr Jean Duret, representing the World Federation of Trade Unions, at the International Trade Conference, vigorously attacked the principles underlying the work of the proposed International Trade Organisation. His speech caused a sensation among the American, British, and other Eng-lish-speaking delegations. Mr Duret said the effort to revive world trade on the basis of equality of treatment and non-discrimination, must be abandoned because a number of nations did not support those principles. which would divide the world into “antagonistic economic blocs.” Mr Duret also said the removal of trade barriers, as the nations proposed, was the wrong way to prevent a depression and increase employment. The “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent says Mr Duret’s speech, since the Communists have managed to capture the administrative side of the World Federation of Trade Unions, was wideg interpreted as an expression of the ussian viewpoint. The speech served as a warning that Russia’s refusal to attend the Geneva conference did not merely indicate indifference but active opposition. It also presented the disturbing possibility that the Communists and other Left wing parties vould make an effort to sabotage agreements which the conference may teach.