BRITISH TRADE WITH EAST

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27306, 24 March 1954, Page 11

BRITISH TRADE WITH EAST

“Maximun) Degree” Sought (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 22. Opening the House of Commons debate on East-West trade, Mr Harold Wilson (Labour) urged the Government to repeal the United Nations boycott on trade with China, and ease restrictions on trade with Russia and other European countries. Mr Wilson said the Government was in danger of being kept in a straitlaced atmosphere while American businessmen were moving in on the Chinese market. “We fear that British industry will be sacrificed to the taboos and blockade mentality of those people in the United States and elsewhere who tend to think of a whole world problem only in terms of the crusade against Communism,” he said.

The President of the Board of Trade (Mr Peter Thorneycroft) said the visit of a group of British businessmen to Russia recently had resulted in the board being notified of about £ 12,500,000 of firm Russian orders. The board had so far approved about £6,500,000 worth. It had also approved the export of 20 trawlers, valued at £6,000,000, to Russia, and £1,250,001 worth of textile machinery. Mr Thorneycroft said British policy could not be dictated by any shortterm commercial advantage. But the Government’s view was that a substantial relaxation of strategic controls would be beneficial, and the Government was putting forward detailed proposals. “We believe it possible to combine an enforceable list of security controls and goods of real strategic importance with a relaxation of particular goods and an expansion of trade in them. We have taken the initiative and we intend to press on. We will do so with a full sense of the security considerations involved. We are resolved to bring about the maximum degree of trade that lies within our power.”