§ 27. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the President of the Board of Trade whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to ratify the proposal for the grant to the United States Government of a waiver to Article I of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in respect of United States imports of motor cars from Canada.
§ Mr. JayThe contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade are considering a request from the Government of the United States of America for a waiver from their obligations under Article I of the General Agreement, to enable them to remove their duties on imports of cars from Canada without extending this benefit to imports from any other countries. I am not yet able to say how the United Kingdom Government will vote on the proposed waiver.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneIn considering this request, will the President of the Board of Trade bear in mind that the United States have said that it is designed so that there should be no damaging effect on other exporters to the United States? Can he explain how a special 1621 preferential tariff for Canada can possibly have other than damaging effects on others?
§ Mr. JayWe have told the United States and, indeed, the Canadian Governments quite frankly that we do not like this arrangement and would much prefer to see the United States remove their tariff on car imports altogether, but I can assure the hon. Member that we shall not accept this arrangement unconditionally.