Trade Talks In the next few weeks the Anglo-American trade
negotia- tions will enter on their most important stage ; and it is gratifying that despite the difficulties which lie ahead and the opposition which has come from important interests in this country, the British Government remains firmly convinced that the talks must be carried to a successful conclusion. In a speech this week Mr. Oliver Stanley expressed the Government's attitude with admirable force. It would, as he said, be unfortunate if the trade pact were regarded as primarily a political agreement in which com- mercial advantages had been sacrificed to an overriding good. The pact, if concluded, will indeed have decisive political effects ; but primarily because it will result not in a mere diversion of existing trade but in an increase in the volume of world trade, in which others as well as Great Britain and America can expect to share. It is greatly to the credit of the Dominion Governments that their clear apprehension of this principle has enabled them with a good conscience to give their support to the negotiations, even though they may be asked to surrender some of the advantages gained at Ottawa. Mr. Mackenzie King for Canada, and Mr. Lyons, in the last week, for Australia, have both by now expressed their hopes of a successful conclusion to the talks.
Previous page
