HC Deb 13 April 1981 vol 3 cc13-4
16. Mr. Marlow

asked the Secretary of State for Trade what was the balance of trade in manufactures with West Germany over the last three months for which figures are available and what indication he has as to whether the balance of trade will improve or deteriorate in the current year.

Mr. Biffen

Trade in manufactured goods with the Federal Republic of Germany in the period November 1980 to January 1981 resulted in a crude deficit of £289 million. I prefer not to venture an estimate of future trade.

Mr. Marlow

My noble Friend Lord Carrington, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, has performed a signal service to the nation by pointing out the massive deficit in manufactures with Japan and the number of jobs lost as a result. As our trade in manufactures with the Federal Republic of Germany is two and a quarter times as bad as our trade with Japan, would my right hon. Friend like to perform the same signal service with regard to that trade and inform the country how many jobs have been lost?

Mr. Biffen

No, Sir, because I think that that would be to take the view that British trade had to be departmentalised country by country, and I do not think that that is a sensible way of looking at it. Furthermore, I should then be obliged to point out to my hon. Friend that, although the figure is £289 million for the three months to which he referred, in the corresponding three months a year before it was just short of £600 million and a year further back it was just short of £500 million. I do not know what conclusion one would draw from that.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

Is the Secretary of State aware that last Thursday a Mercedes-Benz came into New Palace Yard and out got a well-known Conservative Member of Parliament? Across the back of the car was a ribbon announcement "Buy British. British is best". Did the right hon. Gentleman hear his right hon. Friend the Minister for Consumer Affairs say something about the vernacular a short time ago? A friend who was with me, a Cockney, said "They seem to have got their knickers in a twist." Does the right hon. Gentleman agree?

Mr. Biffen

I was not aware, but now I am.

Sir Anthony Meyer

Does my right hon. Friend accept that if our trade in manufactures with Germany is adverse that is because of British industry's failure to be competitive, but that in the case of Japan British exporters meet the additional difficulty of non-tariff barriers and other forms of discrimination, which in the European Community would be removable by the machinery provided for that purpose?

Mr. Biffen

That raises much wider issues, which I should rather answer through a separate answer.

Mr. Gwilym Roberts

Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that the biggest improvement in our trade with West Germany could be achieved by the Government's renegotiating an offset for the British Army of the Rhine? Will he try to make up for the failures of the previous Government in this respect?

Mr. Biffen

That is a formidable invitation for one so lacking in ambition. The whole question of offset arrangements falls well outside the responsibilities of the Department of Trade. Germany is a major market for this country. Trade between the two countries goes much wider than manufactured goods. It would be detrimental to employment in this country if we started to build trade restrictions between ourselves and the Federal Republic.

Mr. Ioan Evans

Are oil exports to Germany contained in the latest figures? If so, will the right hon. Gentleman separate them from the others?

Mr. Biffen

The figures refer solely to trade in manufactured goods, and exclude throughout considerations of oil.

Mr. Moate

Does my right hon. Friend agree that there is some validity in comparing Japanese trade with that of West Germany, inasmuch as we seek to get Japan to impose restraint on its exports to this country? Does he agree that our balance of trade in cars, for example, with West Germany is as bad as our balance of trade in cars with Japan? Should we not ask the Germans also to impose voluntary restraints?

Mr. Biffen

The same considerations apply as I advanced to my hon. Friend the Member for Flint, West (Sir A. Meyer). There are substantial differences between the trading ethos of Germany and that of Japan, but I do not think that they can be reasonably differentiated in the form of question and answer now.