ANGLO-FRENCH TRADE

Evening Star, Issue 23503, 17 February 1940, Page 9

ANGLO-FRENCH TRADE

PROMOTION OF FAVOURABLE DEVELOPMENT NEW UNDERSTANDING REACHED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 16. (Received February 17, at 11 a.m.) The Board of Trade announces that Britain and France have agreed that effect should be given to the conclusions recently reached by Sir Andrew Duncan and the French Minister of Commerce with a view to promoting the favourable development of British and French trade. The understanding reached involves, as regards the mutual trade of the two countries, considerable relaxation of the measures of prohibition and restriction which each was obliged to impose at the outbreak of the war. The arrangements now agreed upon follow logically from the provisions of the financial agreement of December 4. Substantial progress has also been made in the recent exchanges of views towards realisation of the same object in relation to other parts of the British and French Empires. At the same time competent authorities of the two countries have agreed on steps to simplify to the greatest possible extent the present formalities relating particularly to control of external trade and movement of private persons and to postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications. Finally the two Governments jointly examined means for overcoming difficulties standing in the way of parallel development of their export trade. In this connection they approved the forthcoming discussions in London between the Federation of British Industries and the corresponding French Federation, which are designed to facilitate contacts between the corresponding exporting industries of two countries. These discussions, and their results as a whole, serve to emphasise the desire for full and close collaboration such as will not only contribute to their strength in present circumstances, but will also form a potent factor in postwar economic reconstruction. ONE OUTSTANDING BENEFIT. Franoo-British trade is discussed in the weekly journal ‘ Economist,’ which regards the rapid growth of the practical co-operation between the two nations as the outstanding good that has come oht of the war. During the past five months, it says, one fact after another of the economic war has come up for joint discussion and decision. Supply programmes have been concerted, purchases merged, and foreign resources pooled. A very far-reaching financial agreement has been achieved, and broader * aspects of a wage and price policy have been discussed by the Supreme Council and by representatives'of the trade unions of both countries, The ‘ Economist ’ says that, granted a general desire on both sides of the Channel to increase the volume of trade between the two ' countries, there would seem to be two tasks to face—a short period task of meeting the changed circumstances of wartime and the more extended problem of securing a permanent increase to the level of trade more worthy of close allies and friends. After noting that, with a few exceptions, there is little competition • between British and French trade in neutral countries, the ‘ Economist ’ proceeds: “ This comparative lack of competition is the best reason for hoping that the closer economic collaboration begun in wartime may be extended in (peacetime. Though it would be an exaggeration to say that the two economies are the complement of each other, at least they do not clash, and restriction of trade in the past decade has not been due to any specific campaign by Britain against French goods, or by France against British goods, but merely from the general protectionist practices of two countries against foreign imports in general.” After expressing the hope that these protectionist impulses would disappear after the war, the ‘ Economist ’ suggests that the most effective way to expand French-British trade would be to exempt it from main current protection, as Imperial trade in both countries has been exempted.