Archive Report
Archive Report
Threat From Revival of Trade Cartels
Fear of Oil Exporters Causing Economic Chaos
International Cartels, which were dissolved at American insistence at the end of World War II, have staged a comeback. The extent of their revival is most evident in oil, where a group of major producing countries have banded together and raised the price of petroleum exports fourfold in the past year. The success of the oil cartel has encouraged other nations that possess basic raw materials to set up similar cartel arrangements for their products. The purpose of the old pre-war cartels and the new ones remains the same: to reduce or eliminate competition among producers of the same product, thereby raising the price that it will bring.
The higher oil prices brought about ...