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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 10 (February 1, 1930)

Tariff Promise to Argentina

Tariff Promise to Argentina.

Press cablegrams received in New Zealand did not reflect the sensation caused in Empire preference circles in Britain when the Argentine Government announced that the British Government, in return for Argentine tariff concessions on British artificial silk, had undertaken that “any protective duties or restrictions which may in future be levied by Great Britain on foodstuffs originating in countries outside the British Empire will not be levied against Argentine meats and grains.” The cablegrams did not mention that Mr. Amery, who was for some years secretary to the Dominions in the last Conservative Government, said that any such undertaking given by the British Government to the Argentine Government “ought to be fought tooth and nail by those who cared about Empire trade.” Nor did the cablegrams mention a further statement by the Argentine semiofficial journal “La Epoca” that the British Ambassador had promised to submit to the British Government a proposal by the Argentine Government that the undertaking should be extended to include dairy products and fruit—export lines in which New Zealand is especially concerned. British tariff reformers who seek to put duties on foreign-produced foods, in order to encourage Empire-grown foods, object to any promise by a British Government to exempt a foreign country from such duties. They do not admit that a promise to put Argentine on an equal tariff basis with Empire units is binding on any future Government.

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