ANGLO-U.S. TRADE

Grey River Argus, 12 October 1944, Page 8

ANGLO-U.S. TRADE

ATLANTIC CHARTER NONE TOO CLEAR. WELLINGTON, Qctober 8. Reference to a phrase used in Article Seven of the Atlantic- Charter, which he said might lead to a lot of misunderstanding, was made by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, addressing the annual meeting of the British and American Co-op-eration Movement. That phrase was: “Trade between countries, without discrimination.” Misunderstanding might arise because there were Americans who would affirm that the Dominions’ preferential trade agreements with Britain were discriminatory. said Mr Nash. No matter howmuch Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt said, as they had said, that they did not intend to interfere with the British preferential system, the seed had been sown. Americans who tended to be anti-British —they were unreasonable, as were the people in this country who were antiAmerican—would say that Britain had “put it over them” again. It had never been intended to give away the preferences but the phrase read as if it meant that to those who d’d not know the other side of it. Mr Nash said he wished the phrase had not been used.

Mr Nash said the clause also provided for a reduction of barriers to trade, and that implied the United States must do something, so it was “possible that there might be an alteration of the whole position provided that the United States dropped some of its tariffs.” Any step expanding the exchange of goods between the countries should be taken.