§ Mr. G. Thomasasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will extend so-called barter or compensation trading as means of increasing our dollar earnings from North America.
Mr. H. WilsonThe wide use of arrangements, whereby in return for taking United Kingdom goods a North American firm is granted import licence concessions in the United Kingdom, would be unlikely to lead to a net increase in the total earnings of our dollar exports or to advance our progress towards multilateral trade. The Government, however, is prepared to give individual consideration to specific proposals for such arrangements which would bring with them substantial, and quite certain, net dollar earnings which can clearly be shown to be otherwise unobtainable.