Abroad

Brussels Not Happening Here The ten-nation European Common Market has given up any broad attempt to curb the import of Japanese cars this year into its member markets. Although it is unhappy over the agreement between Tokyo and Detroit to cut Japanese automobiles sold in America by 7.7 per cent, it now aims only at holding the level of imports down to last year’s figure of 240,000 vehicles. There is simply not enough political strength to be mustered in Europe to back such a demand. For one thing, Ireland, Greece, and Denmark have no domestic automobile industries to protect. For another, France and Italy have national tariffs to shelter their own production. In the case of Britain there is voluntary agreement with the Japanese automobile companies. Only in West Germany and in the Benelux countries are there open markets. Bonn is anxious lest the 140,000 Japanese vehicles which are to be withheld from the United States be sold in the German market, and the Japanese are expected to be prudent in this respect. However the Germans also fear that increased sales in Ireland, Greece, and Denmark will bite into their own marketing effort in those countries. Japanese Foreign Trade Minister Naohiro Amaya will review the situation shortly with Common Market authorities here. It is expected that holding imports to last year’s level will be the best agreement obtainable.

Mexico Gazing at the Pacific Work is proceeding at top speed on the construction of a modern railroad line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The 182-mile land “bridge” will reduce the sea distance between New York and San Francisco by 2,400 miles and will probably draw considerable freight traffic away from the congested Panama Canal to the south. The new rail link will take advantage of container transport, and container facilities have been built at Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Coast port of Salina Cruz. The objective is to handle half a million containers within five years. A British-built single-track railroad operated successfully across the isthmus from 1907 to 1915, when the Panama Canal was opened. Ever since Spain conquered Mexico in the sixteenth century, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has been the scene of various efforts to use it as an inter-ocean means of commerce, including one scheme to haul actual ships across it on broad-gauge tracks. The new railroad is designed to move one thousand containers every three days, although the efficiency of the operation will ultimately be the determining factor in its use by world shipping. One problem in respect to American cargoes is that U.S. law requires intercoastal freight to be carried under the American flag. The fact that goods would have to travel across Mexican soil, even for a distance of only 182 miles, presents a legal obstacle from the start.

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Brussels Not Happening Here The ten-nation European Common Market has given up any broad attempt to curb the import of Japanese cars this year into its member markets. Although it is unhappy over the agreement between Tokyo and Detroit to cut Japanese automobiles sold in America by 7.7 per cent, it now aims only at holding the level of imports down to last year’s figure of 240,000 vehicles. There is simply not enough political strength to be mustered in Europe to back such a demand. For one thing, Ireland, Greece, and Denmark have no domestic automobile industries to protect. For another, France and Italy have national tariffs to shelter their own production. In the case of Britain there is voluntary agreement with the Japanese automobile companies. Only in West Germany and in the Benelux countries are there open markets. Bonn is anxious lest the 140,000 Japanese vehicles which are to be withheld from the United States be sold in the German market, and the Japanese are expected to be prudent in this respect. However the Germans also fear that increased sales in Ireland, Greece, and Denmark will bite into their own marketing effort in those countries. Japanese Foreign Trade Minister Naohiro Amaya will review the situation shortly with Common Market authorities here. It is expected that holding imports to last year’s level will be the best agreement obtainable.

Mexico Gazing at the Pacific Work is proceeding at top speed on the construction of a modern railroad line across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The 182-mile land “bridge” will reduce the sea distance between New York and San Francisco by 2,400 miles and will probably draw considerable freight traffic away from the congested Panama Canal to the south. The new rail link will take advantage of container transport, and container facilities have been built at Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Coast port of Salina Cruz. The objective is to handle half a million containers within five years. A British-built single-track railroad operated successfully across the isthmus from 1907 to 1915, when the Panama Canal was opened. Ever since Spain conquered Mexico in the sixteenth century, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has been the scene of various efforts to use it as an inter-ocean means of commerce, including one scheme to haul actual ships across it on broad-gauge tracks. The new railroad is designed to move one thousand containers every three days, although the efficiency of the operation will ultimately be the determining factor in its use by world shipping. One problem in respect to American cargoes is that U.S. law requires intercoastal freight to be carried under the American flag. The fact that goods would have to travel across Mexican soil, even for a distance of only 182 miles, presents a legal obstacle from the start.