Canada and Economic Union
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205901400305 |
| Published date | 01 September 1959 |
| Date | 01 September 1959 |
| Author | Roy A. Matthews |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Canada
and
Economic
Union
ROY
A.
MATTHEWS*
ON
January
1st
of
this
year,
the
members
of
the
European
Economic
Community-
France,
Italy,
West
Germany,
Holland, Belgium
and
Luxembourg
-
reduced
their
tariffs
against
each
other
on
industrial
goods
by
10
per
cent.
in
the
first
stage
of
a series
of
tariff
reductions
which,
over
the
course
of
the next
15
to
20
years,
will
lead
to
the
creation
of
a
"common
market"
in Europe.
Observing
their
action,
the
remaining
European
nations
have
redoubled
their
efforts to
find
a
formula
under
which
they
too
can
enter
the
economic
partnership.
All
of
them
have reasons
for
not
wanting
to
join
an
absolute
customs union
and
have
been
endeavouring
to
obtain agreement
to
the formation
of
an
associated
free
trade
area,
as
suggested
by
the
United
Kingdom,
but
this
solution
has
thus
far
proved
unacceptable
to
the
members
of
the
Community.
The
British
espousal
of
free
trade
has
also
been
extended
in
another
direction.
At
a
conference of
Commonwealth finance
ministers
at
Mont
Tremblant
in
the
fall
of
1957,
Mr.
Peter
Thorneycroft,
then
Chancellor
of
the
Exchequer
in
the
United
Kingdom
government,
made
a
dramatic
proposal
for
an
Anglo-
Canadian
free
trade
area.
The
proposal
caused
a
howl
of
dismay
in
Canada,
and
was
hurriedly
swept
under
the carpet
by
the
Canadian
government.
There
was
no
mention
of
it
at
the
Com-
monwealth
economic
conference
in
Montreal
last
September,
and
the
idea
now
seems
to
have
been
forgotten.
Elsewhere,
however,
economic
association
seems
to
have
become all
the
rage,
with
further
suggestions for
such schemes
being
heard
in
South
and
Central
America,
the
Middle
East
and
South-east
Asia.
And
1958
brought
a
further
example
of
the
*
Mr.
Matthews
is
an
economist
now
living in
Montreal.
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