ABSTRACT
Over the period since World War II the geographical diversification of Australia’s international economic relationships across a wider range of countries, and to a relative extent away from Britain, has been evident in each of the main areas of international economic transactions. It has, moreover, speeded up considerably since Britain entered the European Economic Community in 1973. These developments have been associated to some extent with the relative decline of Britain in world trade and output; but they have also-and probably to a much greater extent-been the result of the removal of previously existing artificial factors (notably tariff preferences) and of the introduction of new artificial factors associated with Britain’s entry into the EEC-especially the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
