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British business slams US trade policy ahead of Bush visit
Birmingham, Nov 17: British business leaders, gathering in a bellicose mood for their annual conference today, urged US President George W Bush to tear down trade barriers which they warned were destroying global prosperity.
Birmingham, Nov 17: British business leaders, gathering in a bellicose mood for their annual conference today, urged US President George W Bush to tear down trade barriers which they warned were destroying global prosperity.
Gathering in the central English city of Birmingham on the eve of the US leader's state visit to Britain, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) urged Bush to reverse a slide towards "isolationism and protectionism" by scrapping controversial steel tariffs.
The country's top business grouping also turned the heat up under its own government with a stark warning that more than two thirds of Britain's captains of industry believe the country is becoming less attractive to investors. But the business chiefs turned their biggest guns on Bush, whose Treasury Secretary John Snow is to share a platform at the conference tomorrow with his British counterpart, chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown.
CBI president John Egan warned in his opening speech to the conference that British companies were "deeply concerned" about US trade policy.
"There is a real danger of (the United States) sliding towards isolationism and protectionism. The rest of the world desperately needs America to stay engaged," he said.
Egan urged the US to abandon its steel tariffs, which were declared illegal by the World Trade Organisation last week. "It is business everywhere that pays the price when politicians engage in trade wars. No government should avoid playing its part in removing trade barriers that destroy wealth," he said.
Bureau Report
The country's top business grouping also turned the heat up under its own government with a stark warning that more than two thirds of Britain's captains of industry believe the country is becoming less attractive to investors. But the business chiefs turned their biggest guns on Bush, whose Treasury Secretary John Snow is to share a platform at the conference tomorrow with his British counterpart, chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown.
CBI president John Egan warned in his opening speech to the conference that British companies were "deeply concerned" about US trade policy.
"There is a real danger of (the United States) sliding towards isolationism and protectionism. The rest of the world desperately needs America to stay engaged," he said.
Egan urged the US to abandon its steel tariffs, which were declared illegal by the World Trade Organisation last week. "It is business everywhere that pays the price when politicians engage in trade wars. No government should avoid playing its part in removing trade barriers that destroy wealth," he said.
Bureau Report