Word: tariff
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...gradual, that could alter the course of British economic history. As an island economy dependent on imported food and raw materials, Britain must export to live. Once she did so under the flapping banners of free trade. For the last quarter-century, however, British manufacturers have cowered behind high tariff walls and foreign competitors have imposed retaliatory tariffs that have prevented British goods from finding mass markets abroad. The result: Britain, drained by the war, has been unable since to raise her economy much above subsistence level...
...Britain was faced with the outline of a thorny choice. If a European customs union actually came into existence and Britain stood aloof, there was every likelihood that the tariff wall thrown up by the new group would bar many British exports from European markets. (One-eighth of British exports now go to the Messina Six.) But could Britain consent to have her tariff policy toward the rest of the Commonwealth, the system of "imperial preference," tampered with by an outside authority? If Britain were forced to choose between Europe and the Commonwealth, said Harold Macmillan, "we could not hesitate...
...intolerable a choice, Macmillan decided, would be what he called a "partial free-trade area." Unlike a full-fledged customs union, the partial free-trade area would have no common tariff against outside nations, and even between member nations certain goods would still be subject to tariff. Under such an arrangement the British could exchange manufactured goods tariff-free with the rest of Europe, but would still be able to maintain imperial preference on food, fodder, drink and tobacco-goods which make up a substantial chunk of Commonwealth exports to Britain...
After a three-year study of eight tariff-protected U.S. industries, Economist Percy W. Bidwell concluded last week that gradual but deep tariff cuts would not hurt U.S. industry as a whole and would damage only the marginal producers .in import-sensitive industries. "Most of these industries," he wrote, "have been in long-term declines and are characterized by weak financial situations, severe seasonal or cyclical unemployment and wages below the national levels." Bringing down the tariff walls could channel U.S. capital and labor into more productive endeavor...
Bidwell's book, What the Tariff Means to American Industries, was sponsored by the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations. To get the facts on both sides of the tariff story, Bidwell assembled a standing team of 28 top bankers, educators, editors, businessmen, government officials, and had them scrimmage in round-table discussions with leaders of the eight industries: iron and steel, synthetic chemicals, electrical equipment, watches, bicycles, chinaware, glassware, woolens. Represented were both ardent protectionists and advocates of free trade...