TRADE PACTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 303, 21 November 1938, Page 7

TRADE PACTS

AMERICAN INTENTIONS.

NEAV ZEALAND NAMED

BRITISH TREATY PRAISED

(United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) NEW YORE, Nov. 19. The Press is discussing the possibility of an early negotiation of trade pacts with Australia, New Zealand and the Argentine. The New York Times Washington correspondent states that the outlook for negotiations with Australia is believed to be a’ood. The Secretary of State (Mr Cordell Hull) stated that lie was spending a few days digesting what had been accomplished before deciding on the next move.

Meanwhile importers have pointed out the wording of a clause in the Anglo-American Treaty which makes possible further reductions in duties on a wide range of woollen products if the present tariff rates on raw wool, now assessed at 34 cents a pound, are reduced. The treaty provides for reductions in certain types of hnished wool iabries in proportion to those granted oil tlie raw materials. This clause, it is held, was . inserted with an AustralianAmerican agreement in mind, as raw wool would play a major part in such a pact, and tariff reductions would be hound to affect the position of finished fabrics.

The complexities of the agreement have deterred most manufacturers and traders from specific comment. However, the National Association of Wool Manufacturers assailed the reductions on woollen cloth, contending that a severe blow had been dealt to tlie United States’s wool industries. From a political viewpoint praise is showered on the treaties, typical comment being: “It is a great step back to normal in an abnormal world. It is the first indication perhaps that the Munich conference was not an end but a beginning.”