AUSTRALIAN TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 16, 19 January 1940, Page 12

AUSTRALIAN TRADE

A DRIVE FOR MARKETS

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

SYDNEY, January 10.

Revision of Australia's trade policy towards France and also the more important countries in the East will be considered soon by the Economic Cabinet. This will be the first move in a new drive to capture more of the world's markets. Details of the plans are being kept a close secret. A new and comprehensive policy, not only for the war, but for peace, will be planned. Reports on all phases of the problems involved are being drawn up by officials in Australia and by the nation's representatives over seas. The Australian and British Governments are exchanging views through official sources. Normal trade with the East, officials said, had been dislocated to some extent by the wartime trade control. The need for anew, policy towards France had arisen because France and Britain had pooled their economic resources. This gave France the right to be regarded as a sterling country in relation to the Australian import restrictions. Granting of that right would place France on an equal footing with Britain for trade with Australia. The British and Commonwealth Governments were exchanging views to clarify the position and to reach a common principle. '