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non-ferrous metal products, on which there would be no cuto
or cuts of only 20 per cent. A positive list of 60 agricultural
products is expected, with 50 per cent tariff cuts on the
tropical products on the list but no decision on the remainder. The Japanese are likely to want to exclude Hong Kong, Formosa, and South Korea which they rogard as too competitive already
in their market. We have no information about the likely
extent of the U.S. offer but it seems most probable that it
will consist only of a limited cut, possibly 50 per cent, and
to contain a substantial list of exceptions. The Americans
are, howevor, considering putting in alternative offers including
one based on duty quotas on the lines of the E.E.C. offer.
Aspects of Countries' Offers that romain unclear
12.
It will be noted that all the illustrative offers so
far received contain gaps which make assessment difficult and
leave certain questions, notably the nature of the safeguarding
arrangements and the beneficiary countries, no further forward,
In a number of cases the E.E.C., Switzerland, Austria and
Canada there is no precision about the items that would be
excluded. Switzerland and Austria do not even state what
preferences would be offered. It is often not clear whether
all goods in Chapters 25-99 are intended to be covered or
if not, what definition of manufactures and semi-manufactures
is intended. And the E.E.C. do not - and are unlikely to -
identify, the sensitive products to which the quota ceilings
would be strictly applied. There are many question to be
put to the other countries seeking clarification of their offers
before we can be sure what they intend.
Trade statistics and the evaluation of offers
13. One of the principal difficulties in evaluating and comparing
the lists is the lack of statistics.
Countries were asked to
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