had expired), the developing countries may well finally
settle for a renewal of the L.T.A if possible on more
generous terms.
The following are the main neacións
12 26th or the other hand –15 unenthusinticat--
why we dislike the Arrangement:
the prospect of continuing the present arrangements.—
-we-consider-that
(a) the L.T.A. has been a cloak under which a number
of coutries have been able to pursue a distinctly
protectionist policy on cotton textiles, and a
number of importing countries have taken advantage
of its provisions to keep imports from the developing
countries down to a very low level. The main
weaknesses are that the importing country is allowed.
to be judge of its own case: that the restrictions
are almost always discriminatory: and that Article 4,
providing for bilateral agreements, has sometimes
been used to deny the exporting countries their basic
rights under the agreement. The effect has been to.
increase the pressure on countries like the
United Kingdom which did not impose restrictions
·
+
until imports had taken over a large share of the
market.
(b) the U.K. interest is in getting other developed
•
countries to accept a much larger share of low cost
competition. The L.T.A. has not achieved this.
•
Whereas one-third of the U.K. market is now supplied
by low-cost imports, other major developed countries
have continued to keep the proportion they accept
down to a much lower lovel.
(c) since we intend to remove "our controls on
cotton textile imports at the end of.1971, the
blanket authority of the L.T.A. will no longer
be necessary to cover our actions.
(d)
we feel that quotas are in principle a less
satisfactory technique of control than tariffs.
They freeze, the existing pattern of trade, they
Kaura
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