§ Sir T. Beamishasked the President of the Board of Trade what has been the value of exports to the European Economic Community countries in the last six months for which figures are available compared with the same period 12 months earlier; what is the approximate degree of discrimination against British imports into these countries compared with trade between member countries of the Community; and what information he has from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development regarding the extent to which this discrimination is expected to increase.
§ Mr. RedheadExports (excluding re-exports) to E.E.C. countries during the six months ended January, 1964 and January, 1965 were as follows:
Imports into the Community from Britain of industrial goods, in which our trade mainly consists, are subject to the full external tariffs of members of the Community, but the tariffs on inter-Community trade stand at 30 per cent. of their levels at the 1st January, 1957. These remaining internal tariffs are likely to be removed within the next few years.
£ million Aug. 1963-Jan. 1964 Aug. 1964-Jan. 1965 Belgium … 49.9 56.1 France … 89.1 85.0 Western Germany … 98.9 111.5 Italy … 79.4 52.5 Luxembourg … 0.9 0.9 Netherlands … 80.9 90.3 (The figures for Jan. 1965 are provisional)