Evening star., 1933-12-03
FRENCH WELCOME
TARIFF BARGAINING
New Policy Here May Help
Balance Trade, Ex.
porters Say.
Snecial Dispatch TO The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
PARIS, December 2.-French ex-
porters welcome news from Washington
that the Roosevelt administration in
tends to adopt q policy Of tariff BAR
gaining.
Such a policy has been in force in
France for years and has yielded good
results in trade relations with many
nations. The United States, however,
has adhered in the past to the most
favored-nation principle.
II is declared here that the tradi-
tional American way Of handling tar
ifs has worked special hardships on
French exporters. Designed to be i'm
partial, the American tariff has really
Disseminated against France because
the great majority of French exports
come in the luxury class and are sub
ject to specially high duties.
The practical effect has been that
France, with one-third Americas pop
ulation. has bought three times as much
from the United States in recent years
as the United States has bought from
France. In other words, each French
man has spent on the average about
So a year on American goods. while
SdCn american mas SpenL only dUOuG
20 cents on French goods.
Eager TO Export Wine.
The French expect that a bargaining
arrangement will result in evening
things up somewhat.
One of the things that France is par
ticularly eager to export is wine. EStl-
mates have placed the probable Amer
ican demand for foreign wine at 5.00O,-
900 gallons. Competition among the
various European producing ma
tions is keen. The idea here is that
diplomatic negotiation ought to fix the
quota assignable to each country, in
proportion to the readiness of each
country to accept American goods in
return.
There is also a clamor from the cham
pagne region for a revision of the pres
ent American duty on sparkling wines.
The duty stands at present at S20.67 a
case. and is almost seven times as high
as the duty on still wines. 1t is even
SO per cent higher than the duty on
whisky, which the wine people think
absurd, since champagne contains only
one-Jhird as much alcohol as whisky
This excessive duty" champagne
merchant declares, can have only one
effect, namely to make champagne SO
expensive in America that only the rich
can drink it. People of moderate means.
when they go places of entertainment.
will have to be content with whisky.
which saddens and depresses, whereas
champagne cheers and enlivenS.
Where did Americans get the idea
that sparkling wine is luxury to be
taxed as such? 1t is not considered a
luxury in France. Many sparkling wines
are made and sold in France for as lit
tie as 80 or 40 cents bottle, within
reach of the common people"
Motor Cars Favored.
1t is pointed cut that American mo-
tor cars are extremely popular in France,
in spite of the high duty. Cheap cars.
which sell in America for 5000, find
ready market in France at retail price
of $4,000. More American cars are sold
in France than all other foreign makes
combined. This situation has continued
to exist, in spite of the refusal until now
of the American Government to grant
concessions to French exports.
England and Germany. if given slight
tariff preferences, could supply the
French demand for foreign cars, it is
said. The same is true of typewriters,
agricultural machinery, radios. fountain
pens and many other articles that now
are imported in large quantities from
the United States. French exporters
think the American and French Gov
ernments ought to agree on program
of reciprocity.
(Copyright, 1889