A SETTLEMENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 March 1925, Page 5

A SETTLEMENT

TRADE AGREEMENT. 1 -v;' BETWEEN FRANCE & GERMANY. TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENT. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. (Received March 2, 10.5 a.m.) :i PARIS, March 1. Franco-German representatives have signed a nine months’ modus vivendi tariff, preparatory to the ultimate conclusion of a general commercial treaty, negotiations for which have been proceeding for several months. They have been characterised by a series of deadlocks, necessitating the frequent return of the German delegates to Berlin. It is believed that political factors, to some extent, have been responsible for the difficulties, also the fact that the Germans insisted on a general most favoured nations treatment, which the French were precluded from granting under its Customs law of 1919, which, however, was circumvented by limitation qf the most favoured nation caluses to specific categories of goods, while in certain cases preferential tariffs will be reached by gradual < stages, to enable French industry to acclimatise itself thereto. Regarding the products of Alsace-Lorraine, exported to Germany, France temporarily obtains preference, but the question will be reopened before the conclusion ,of the treaty.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.