Word: commonwealths
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...they can tag along respectfully as camp followers, with little more weight or voice than tiny Luxembourg. Britain is rejected as unfit economically or politically to join this band of continental brothers because it 1) is an offshore island, and 2) has "special ties" with the U.S. and the Commonwealth. To De Gaulle's jaundiced eye. the British attempt to enter the Common Market was simply a Trojan horse maneuver (an expression used with suspicious frequency in Parisian editorials and salons last week) staged by Washington to make sure that the U.S. domination of Europe would not be frustrated...
...scene of Britain's dashed hopes last week, is a dour, neon-lit old maid of a city. On Monday, the cobbled streets were slimy with black slush and blanketed with chilling fog as Britain's chief negotiator. Edward Heath, arrived with his aides. Minister for Commonwealth Affairs Duncan Sandys and Agriculture Minister Christopher Soames. The French, with a fine sense of economy, traveled light; only Luxembourg's four-man delegation was smaller. French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville brought only an overnight case, for he knew that he would not be staying long...
...despite its size, the Commonwealth alone is unlikely to give Britain the trading scope that its economic health requires. Organized in 1931, its trading charter called for the members to send their agricultural products and raw goods to Britain, buy manufactured goods in return. But during World War II, Britain revitalized its farms, reducing its need for imported foodstuff. After the war, as Commonwealth members began to industrialize, they threw up tariffs to protect their fledgling industries. Last year, even while Canadian Prime Minister Diefenbaker was pleading with Prime Minister Macmillan not to join the Common Market, Canada slapped...
Shopping Around Asia. Commonwealth members have been busy lining up new trading partners ever since Britain began to woo the Common Market. Japan is this year expected to replace Britain as Australia's best customer. New Zealand is shopping around Asia for new markets. The African Commonwealth nations appear more concerned about dealing with fellow Africans than with their white Commonwealth brothers. Though world exports have increased 46% in the past eight years, export trade among the Commonwealth nations has risen only 17%. Instead of hoping that Britain would return to the fold, most Commonwealth businessmen hoped that Britain...
Export Worries. Britain's existing economic ties to the Common Market are already too strong for even Charles de Gaulle to break. While trade with the Commonwealth slackened, British sales to the Common Market increased an impressive 17% last year. Still, British businessmen worry about how their exports would fare in case of a European recession or when the Common Market applies a standard 15% to 25% external tariff by 1969. Clearly, if Britain is to survive as a major industrial power alongside, instead of inside, the Common Market, British industry must improve its productivity so that its goods...