76.
asked the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been drawn to the fact that for the first five months of this year the combined imports from Peru, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and the Argentine Republic amounted to £69,830,000, while the total of exports and re-exports to those countries aggregated only £24,413,000; and what steps are being taken to correct this adverse balance of trade.
It is not the policy of Her Majesty's Government to try to balance trade or payments with individual countries or groups of countries, but to achieve freer trade and payments arrangements so as to improve our external position as a whole. There are, however, difficulties, which vary in each case, in exporting to these countries and we shall continue to do all we can to assist exporters to overcome them.