Evening star., 1935-11-05
Trade With Canada.

1t is gratifying news tnat Ine newly
elected prime minister of Canada, Will
liam Lyon Mackenzie King, will be in
Washington this week to confer with
President Roosevelt about Canadian
American tariff treaty. The statesman
swept into power at the head OF Lib
eral party government only three weeks
ago is obviously a believer in keeping
political promises. He pledged Canada
that if he were intrusted with author
ity one OF his earliest acts would be an
effort to negotiate an agreement be-
tween the Dominion and the United
States which, before tariff wars cast
their malign shadow across the border,
were long each others best customer.
The stage at Washington at this time
Is more favorably set for mutually
profitable pact than in the recent past.
Reciprocal tariff arrangements are
among the key policies of the New Deal
They form the basis of half a dozen
treaties already concluded with coun-
tries in Europe and South America.
Negotiations for a bargain with Can
ada have been in progress for months,
but because of clashing interests on
both sides, loath to surrender advan-
tages conferred by existing rates, and
also on account of the parliamentary
contest In Canada, progress was ar
rested.
Now, to give prompt effect to his cam
paign pledges, Mr. Mackenzie King is
bent upon renewing negotiations and
carrying them to conclusion. Ottawa
tariff experts have been in Washington
for several days in consultation with the
State Department, paving the way for
the general discussions which the prime
minister will hold with the President
and Secretary Hull. The pending st.
Lawrence Waterway treaty is also ex-
pected to figure conspicuously in Mr..
Mackenzie Kings visit.
Face-to-face consideration OF the
thorny Canadian-American trade prob
lens is a far more efhcacious way OF
tackling them than through the tedi-
Gus channels of diplomacy. With the
cordial will present upon the part OF
both high contracting parties. the Mac
kenzie King-Roosevelt conversations are
bound to bring matters forward. Before
depression the United States exported.
roundIy, billion dollars worth Of goods
annually to Canada, while the Domln-
ion sold about half a billion dollars
worth to the United States. Between
1929 and 1882 trade each way was more
than cut in half. 1t is climbing again,
but is still far below the old-time level.
The difficulty in the path of a recip-
rocal treaty lies chiefly in reluctance OF
important American interests to approve
tariff reductions on Canadian potatoes,
lumber, fish, milk, cream live cattle and
minexals. Canadian manufacturers, on
their part, have looked askance at con-
cessions which would admit larger
quantities of machinery, chemicals, iron
and steel and other American products.
The opportunities for a glve-and-take
tresty are uncommonly wide. If they
are grasped in a spirit of mutual &C
commodation, with suppression of group
advantage in favor of the general ma
tional interest, Canadian American
reciprocity can be translated from an
ideal into an actuality. AS an ardent
apostle of the theory that economic
nationalism has no place in this modern
interlocking world, the Canadian prime
minister is assured of a warm welcome
and sympathetic hearing in Washington.