§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his estimate of the likely increase in its selling price in the United Kingdom if canned fruit from Australia was subjected to a 25 per cent. tariff.
§ Mr. NobleWe have made no estimate. Any estimate of the effect of a tariff increase on the selling price of a product must rest on assumptions about various 423W other factors besides the level of the tariff itself, and its value would therefore be uncertain. For example, the effect on the selling price of canned fruit would depend on the availability of fresh, canned or other preserved fruits from other sources, on the degree of competition in distribution which would affect retail and wholesale margins, on supply conditions, on changes in the prices of other goods, and on the way in which all these and any other relevant factors interacted over the period of transition to the new tariff levels.