TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19694, 28 July 1938, Page 5

TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

BRITAIN AND AMERICA

HOPES OF AGREEMENT

(British Official Wireless.)

Reed. 9 a.m

RUGBY, July 20

Negotiations being pursued by the British Government with reference to future trade pacts were mentioned by the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, during his speech in the House of Commons to-day.

Turning to relations with the United States, he expressed the opinion that they never had been better than at present. Taking up the reference made in the speech of the Liberal leader, Sir Archibald Sinclair, to the debt question, Mr. Chamberlain said that Lord Stanhope's observations in the House of Lords on Thursday made Britain's attitude perfectly clear. He regarded the trade agreement now under negotiation ' not merely as an attempt to come to a commercial arrangement, but as an effort to demonstrate the possibility of Britain and the United States working together and as a forerunner of collaboration of a wider application. It was not necessary to display impatience. A commercial treaty of the kind began with an enormous schedule Of articles, every one of which had to be discussed and negotiated. They had gone through this great schedule and agreed upon a great part of it, but, as always happened, you came at some time to certain points which offered special difficulty. On this subject, Mr. Chamberlain concluded with the statement: "I know there is goodwill on both sides, and I hope we shall not have to wait very long before Ave are able to announce an agreement." The Prime Minister finished a long statement, ranging over the whole field of foreign affairs, with the confident declaration: "The Government believes in the end that we shall succeed in bringing back security and confidence to Europe."