TRADE AGREEMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1935, Page 7

TRADE AGREEMENT

CANADA-UNITED STATES? DISCUSSIONS PROBABLE ATTITUDE OF ENGLAND _ RECIPROCITY NOT EASY By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Rec. 9.30 p.m. Washington, Nov. 7. Although it is fairly well, established that the purpose of the visit of Mr. Mackenzie King, the new Canadian Prime Minister, who arrived at Washington today, is to begin, discussions with President Roosevelt to-morrow on the question of a Canadian-American trade agreement, considerable interest has been aroused by the Prime Minister's disclaimer that his Washington visit had any other reason than affording him a holiday. He originally planned to take that holiday at London, he said, but he had, changed his plans since he did not wish to go from the heat of his own- political campaign to the heat of another. Journalists, commenting on Mr. King’s statement made, in an interview, freely declared it would be an astute politician’s deliberate effort to soften apprehensions at London over the possibility that Canada’s huge wheat reserves might figure in reciprocity negotiations. British interests, it is reported, desire Canada to release at least 100,000,000 bushels of this wheat to the world markets in order to lower commodity prices and thereby relieve the Bank of England of the necessity of buying more gold with which tp meet demands for increased note circulation. The point remains that Mr. King is interested in “unshackling Canada’s export trade.” Reciprocity with the United States will not be easy since both countries are pro- , ducers of identical articles on which both want major tariff concessions.

The Prime Minister will probably go to London after his Washington visit in the interests of the “unshackling” mentioned.