Necessary Changes in Our Commercial Policy

THE policy of the United States regarding reciprocal trade arrangements with other countries has gone through several phases; and it now seems likely to enter another. The direct and immediate effect of a realignment is easily exaggerated. Moreover, it seems a dry subject, involving details about processes of negotiation. And yet, in its underlying essentials it has a very great importance. The spirit and temper in which it is approached make an enormous difference in our relations with other countries, in our own gains or losses when trading with them, in our influence on the whole course of world development.