BRITISH EXPORT TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23707, 14 January 1939, Page 13

BRITISH EXPORT TRADE

UNSATISFACTORY STATE REVIEW OF MARKETS URGED LONDON, Jan. 13. (Received Jan. 14, at 0.15 a.m.) Arguing that the unsatisfactory state of the British export trade was not the result of a temporary depression but the new economic conditions and new national policies, the committee of the Association of Chambers of Commerce urges the Government to exert the bargaining power of Britain as the world’s greatest import market. The Government should review world markets with a view to ascertaining the minimum export trade at which it must.aim; secondly, markets available; thirdly, the changes necessary to achieve the result. Countries unwilling to increase their imports from the United Kingdom would be faced with a reduction of their exports to the United Kingdom. As regards Empire trade, a settler ment on quantitative lines would be more rational than a grant of free entry regardless of the volume of the imports to which it may lead. Thus, the share of British markets which Empire countries enjoy would be settled with due regard to counter-concessions and the position of home industry.

The report concludes;—“A new British trade policy is essential and Quantitative discussions are most likely to promote an amicable settlement.”