Show CANADA BIGGEST CUSTOMER BUT ONE Buys More Than All AH South America v WASHINGTON ASHINGTON Nov 20 Canada Canada anada is the second best best customer the Ute United United United Unit Unit- ed States now has according to figures figures figures fig fig- ures being compiled by federal officials officials cias being only exceeded by England in the purchase of merchandise Canadians buy worth of merchandise in this country every year more than all of the countries of South America Africa Asia and Oceania combined During the war Canadian purchases in the United States increased to an unprecedented extent They became so large that Canada developed an adverse trade balance The direct result is the present present present pres pres- ent discount on the Canadian dollar in this country In tn years prior to the war Canadian exports had so nearly balanced her imports from the United States that the rate of exchange was at no time sufficiently serious to interfere with business between the two countries But when the discount on the Canadian Canadian Cana Cana- dian dollar and at the same time the premium on the American dollar in Canada rapidly rose from approximately approximately approximately 2 per cent to as high ag as 12 per cent commerce began to show the effects of the changed conditions Even Then under conditions which existed exist exist- ed before the war the Canadian importer importer importer im im- im- im porter of American merchandise paid a heavy customs duty which averaged 35 per cent ad valorem During the war the duty was increased by a 7 72 a pr war tariff The importer in Canada was thus called upon to pay on an average of 42 per cent of the wholesale value of the goods from the United States Where When added to this tax was imposed the burden created by the exchange situation the problem problem lem became serious for the American manufacturer who continued to supply supply sup sup- ply Canadian customers from an American plant While in most cases it had been possible to do business with Canada despite a 3 33 35 per cent tariff when it came became necessary to provide the equivalent of a tax of 52 per cent of the wholesale v value lue of a product inthe inthe in tn the United States a solution was sought During the last year more than 20 0 American manufacturers erected or leased plants plants' in Canada Long before the war rendered commercial relations between Canada and this country more difficult American manufacturers had built plants there and established purely Canadian businesses to escape the tarl tariff and to take advantage of the preferential tariff treatment given by other parts of the British empire to goods originating within the boundaries boundaries boundaries boun boun- daries of the Dominion |