Trade ban criticised

Press, 31 March 1981, Page 25

Trade ban criticised

/A Wellington The Federation of Labour must “face reality” over its trade ban with Chile, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys) at the Southland Officers’ Club on Saturday evening. “A country as dependent as New Zealand on trading with others cannot afford to mount a lone sanctions exercise,” he said. “Trade sanctions have not once in the course of recent history achieved the stated aim of altering a country’s social or political situation.

“But trade opportunities set aside affect New Zealand workers’ jobs.” Mr Taiboys said that an export market with Chile of about $2O million had been extinguished by the F.OL. ban. This, however, brought no pressure to bear on the administration in Santiago, he said. “Chilean importers simply turn to other sources. The supermarkets in Santiago today carry Irish butter, Danish milk powder, and French and German cheese, instead of our own. “The economy is booming,

purchasing power increasing, and Chile wants New Zealand goods,” he said. A deal worth $6 minion involving the sale of New Zealand cattle to Chile fell through because the Chilean interests concluded there was no means of delivering the cattle, said Mr Taiboys. “New Zealand and Cuba, alone of all the nations of the world, maintain a comprehensive trade ban on Chile,” he said. . “It is selective and irrational. Worse still, it serves only to injure our o//n interests.”