Washington agreement A thieves' charter for new trade war

team will all be white THE 'acceptability' of the Smith-Home deal on Rhodesia will be 'tested' by a former judge, a Tory businessman and three former colonial administrators.

At a press conference in London yesterday it was announced that 16 assistants will help sound opinion in Rhodesia. No African will be included.

'We wouldn't be able to find one that wouldn't be committed,' said Sir Maurice Dorman, former governor of Trinidad.

'We're all going as uncommitted persons,'. added the chairman Lord Pearce, head of the Press Council and former appeal judge.

The commission wil! arrive in Salisbury on January 1l and will take two months to assess opinions of 5 million Africans.

It will be headed by Lord Pearce (below r, with halfspectacles). Lord Harlech (1) will accompany him. TERMS OF the Washington agreement on currency realignment amount to a 'thieves' charter' for the big American corporations. Their immense holdings overseas were bought with paper dollars in the post-war years when the dollar was regarded as as good as gold'.

Yet the dollar is now devalued by 8 per cent against gold—and the European bankers and governments are left with piles of paper which can no longer be exchanged for value in gold form.

Since 1945, US corporations like General Motors and Standard Oil have built up investments overseas. They came to every part of the capitalist world , seeking cheaper labour and readier access to overseas markets by siting their plants in Europe, Asia and. Latin America.

The book value of these investments at the end of last year astood eat overimes. the -nearly eight times amount of gold backing for the dollar held in Fort Knox.

In W Europe alone, these investments totalled $24,500m —almost a third of this sum AGREEMENTS allowing W Berliners to cross the Berlin Wall were signed yesterday. Visitors will be able to cross into E Germany for up to 30 days a year or during special circumstances and emergencies.

With these dollars, the American corporations bought •bricks and mortar, plant and equipment which are still very much in evidence and operate in direct competition with the factories of European capitalists.

HIGH AND DRY However, the people who took their dollars in exchange are now left high and dry. In March 1968, the holders of paper dollars rushed in such numbers to buy gold that the US was forced to introduce the 'two-tier' system and stop selling gold at $35 an ounce to all except central bankers.

And since President Nixor closed the 'gold window' or August 15, even the central bankers have been forced onto the 'free market' for gold.

Nixon's decision to raIse the gold price by $3 an ounce to $38 comes nowhere near what would be required to restore the dollar's gold backIng.

In order to cover the dollars in circulation overseas, the gold price would have to be raised to something like $280 an ounce.

This would amount to conducting world trade entirely on the basis of gold, turning the clock back before World War I. It is, quite simply, impossible. NO. 1 QUESTION Yet despite all the Americans' efforts to keep it off the Group of Ten agenda, gold is still the number-one question With currencies in turmoil and with the prospect of a spate of competitive devaluations as America's trading partners find the Washington terms too onerous, there will increasingly be movement out of paper money into gold.

Inflated paper money no longer serves as reliable basis for international trade because buyers and sellers are no longer certain that they will get value for their goods.

Under these circumstances it cannot be long before firms and countries begin increasingly to demand payment in gold rather than currency.

Already the International Monetary Fund is refusing to accept settlement of accounts in dollars. This trend must The US has no intention of re-opening the 'gold window'.

What they have already obtained through the Washington deal gives them a flying start in the trade war They hold all the cards anc have dictated very favourable terms to their trading rivals.

EDGE

The upvaluation of European and Japanese currencie gives the US a considerable competitive edge over all its rivals.

The overall 11-per-cent revaluation against the dollar means that US firms will find xporting easier, while European and Japanese will find i more difficult to penetrate the American market.

At the time. introAmerican firms duced their Trojan Horse on the cheap into Europe, ( enabling them to compete with the European employers from inside their own tariff walls.

They must now ruthless rationalization their holdings in order to squeeze still more surplus value from the workers of Europe.

US capital is now preparing itself for trade war to the death against its rivals.

• SEE PAGE FOUR. abled fight Ford closure.