Journal of European Integration History – Revue d'histoire de l'

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48Markus SchulteFigure 3.1: Textile exports to the EEC compared to the 1953-58 trend400000350000t 53-58EECDM 100030000025000020000015000010000050000053-153-354-154-355-155-356-156-357-157-358-158-359-159-360-160-361-161-362-162-363-163-364-164-3quartersWithin the EEC the usual picture also occurred in German textile exports, withthe largest increases towards France and Italy. Yet exports to the other EEC marketsalso rose markedly above the 1953-58 trend in the Dutch market, which remainedthe most important export market within the Community with the value of exportsto the Netherlands in 1964 still almost doubling that to France or Italy. It is importantto stress that the “take off” of exports to the EEC did not occur before 1961.Exports to EFTA stagnated from the beginning of 1958 onward and surpassed1957 levels again only at the end of 1959. At the time this might have been taken asan indication that the free trade area solution was needed and that German textileexports to the Seven otherwise would suffer. After 1960 export values lay mostlyabove the 1953-58 trend. Among the EFTA markets exports to Austria and to Switzerlandrose most markedly over the period as a whole yet without any strongincrease above the 1953-58 trend for the latter half of the period. Both these marketssurpassed the importance of the Swedish market at the beginning of 1959.German textile exports to Sweden remained practically constant over the whole ofthe period from 1953 to 1964. Exports to the UK and Denmark improved above the1953-58 trend after 1959 and after 1960 for Austria, whereas exports to Norwayfell in relation to the trend from 1961 onward. The most important feature concerningEFTA markets is the fact that exports to the larger ones continued along thetrend line or slightly above it with the exception of 1958 and 1959. Hence theexports interests of the German textile industry were not visibly hit by the failure ofthe Maudling negotiations. The relative importance of EFTA as an export marketfor German textiles declined however and was equalled by the EEC by mid-1963.Given the fairly high tariffs on a good number of textile products in all Europeancountries, it had to be expected that tariff reductions within the EEC wouldhave a rather important impact on the internal EEC trade. This is reflected in the
Industrial Interest in West Germany´s Decision 49German foreign trade statistics. All in all, the trade discrimination that occurredbetween the EEC and EFTA did not seem to lead to important changes in thesources of imports for the Seven. This might have been partly due to long establishedtrade relations, to geographic proximity and correspondingly low transportcosts, but most probably to the fact that the markets were regulated by otherdevices. It could also have been due to the fact that production capacity withinEFTA would not have been sufficient to cause a substantial switch from Germanyor indeed from any other EEC supplier country to Britain as the most importanttextile producer among the Seven.Textile – ImportsFor imports the picture is quite similar to that of exports with a little slump in 1958and 1959, a rise above the trend for the EEC and a line close to the 1953-58 trendfor imports from EFTA. However, it is important to note that the balance of tradewith the EFTA countries is persistently positive, while with the EEC it becomesincreasingly negative particularly from mid-1959 when the first internal tariffmeasures showed their effect. The most important source of imports among theEEC members was Italy, closely followed by France. The value of imports fromFrance almost doubled from the first to the last quarter of 1959. On a slightly lowerlevel, imports from the Benelux countries rose markedly above the 1953-58 trendtoo, contributing to a very strong negative balance of trade in textiles for Germanywith its partners in the EEC.Textile imports from the EEC rose markedly, whereas imports from the EFTAcountries roughly followed the 1953-58 trend, and remained below it during mostof the second half of the period. Imports from the UK continued to stagnate after1958 and stayed well below the trend. Switzerland remained the most importantsource of textile imports among the Seven, followed by the UK and Austria. Themost significant development was the complete stagnation of imports from Britainafter 1957.While it is hard to specify to which protective measures this stagnation was due,it seems that the failure to establish the free trade area and to admit Britain into theEEC saved the German textile industry from potentially very damaging competition.Had the free trade area come about in 1958/59, a “take off” of imports fromBritain together with the rise of imports from France and Italy would undoubtedlyhave had a strong negative impact on the German textile industry. One factor in thatwould certainly have been textile imports into the UK from the Commonwealth aswell as the UK textiles made from Indian “grey cloth” or re-exports from HongKong.
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