Statistics showing Palestine’s adverse trade balance grew during 1935 despite a rise in exports have spurred a movement for setting up tariff barriers against foreign goods. Imports totalled $89,267,465 as compared with $75,763,905 in 1934.
Exports rose in the same period from $16,087,810 to $21,077,430. It was explained that a large proportion of the excess in imports results from the flow of Jewish capital into the Holy Land in the form of machinery and equipment.
Much of the import rise is also traced to foreign “dumping.” It is pointed out that because Palestine, as a mandated territory, cannot raise discriminatory tariff barriers against League of Nations members, she must stand helplessly by while foreign countries bar her products, yet cannot protect the home market against foreign competition.
Newspapers and manufacturers are pressing for uniform customs tariff protection, equally applicable against all countries. The daily, Haboker, declared in an editorial:
“The time has come when we must speak out. We cannot go on as things are now, for the present is a decisive hour for us. The Government must give us the protection of a tariff — if it wants our industry to exist….
“One thing must be stated very explicitly: our economy is not that of a primitive agriculture and halting industry. There is creative power within our economy, power for elastic industry and far-reaching trade.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
