Wanted: More Freedom

Around the free world there was new support last week for freer trade. Items:

P: In Montreal, British Board of Trade President Sir David Eccles announced that the United Kingdom will scrap her quotas on a wide range of dollar imports, from industrial machinery to tinned salmon, and suggested that all other controls be gradually eliminated.

P: In Manhattan, British Paymaster-General Reginald Maulding, the man charged with coordinating British-European trade policies for the Macmillan government, told the U.S. Council of the International Chamber of Commerce that a free-trade area would carry "great advantages." Said he: "I have no need to dwell upon the importance of a mass market for the full exploitation of modern industrial technology. The U.S. furnishes the outstanding example of this. In the 17 countries of Western Europe there can be a single market of more than 250 million people. This is our goal, and you can see what immense possibilities it offers."

P: In Manchester, England, 100 ranking businessmen, economists and politicians met, endorsed a free-trade area and the European Common Market. The British, though not members of the Common Market, stumped for it, also championed a free-trade area that would wipe out tariffs. French Finance Minister Antoine Pinay said that Premier Charles de Gaulle, until recently cool to the Common Market, now was warming to it. The fathers of the Common Market have set a deadline of next Jan. 1 for a 10% tariff cut by its members--France, West Germany, Italy, the Benelux nations. A month ago there was some doubt whether the deadline would be met. Last week it appeared to be a firm date.

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