TRADE TALKS AT TORQUAY

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26265, 9 November 1950, Page 7

TRADE TALKS AT TORQUAY

Imperial Preference To Be Discussed (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, fcov. 8. “Imperial preference can hardly | fail to be an important subject soon in the Torquay trade and tariff negotiations,” says the financial editor of the “Manchester Guardian,” commenting on the agenda for the session which has just been released. "So far.” he says, “the British Government seems to have held out against any serious reversion, but several countries, including America, are persistent in their efforts to make some inroads into Imperial preference and are offering considerable concessions in return.”

The correspondent, after reviewing the General Agreement on Trade ana Tariffs, which lays down rules of commercial conduct which may be set aside only in specific circumstances, such as danger to the balance of payments or monetary reserves, adds: “The measures taken by Britain and Commonwealth countries last year to restrict imports from the dollar areas by 25 per cent, are a clear case of such deviation, and must be explained and justified before the contracting parties.

“But there is more to it than that. The International Monetary Fund, which acts as a sort of expert witness to the contracting parties, was requested last year to give an opinioft whether dollar import cuts were justified by the condition of the balance of payments®and the monetary reserves of countries concerned. "The fund has now submitted a report which seems to conclude that the danger is past and discrimination against dollar goods should be terminated. On the other hand, the American delegation is pressing for an early relaxation, if not the removal, of the special defences of the sterling area against imperts from the United States.

“It is true that the all-out onslaught on the sterling area trade defences that was at one time expected has not developed. “With Marshall Aid suspended and rearmament beginning to effect world trade, American opinion seems to have reluctantly postponed the final attack on trade barriers. “In any case the British Government is not likely to give way on what it still regards as essential defences, so long as the gold reserve remains barely adequate. There may be a gradual easing of restrictions on specific dollar imports, such as softwood for housing, and some other sterling countries may relax restrictions a little, but no general lifting of barriers is in sight.