Administration felt confident that they would be able
liberal
to move forward on/trading policies with the textile lobby
on their side. But if a voluntary solution was not found, the President was concerned that the matter would be taken over by Congress.
In these circumstances, other industries would be brought within the scope of
the new protective measures and this would have a
seriously damaging effect on the whole movement towards
greater liberalisation in international trade.
U.K. Relationship with Common Market
Mr. Stans asked about possible arrangements for a
United Kingdom trading relationship with the Common Market which fell short or full membership.
The President of the Board of Trade said that any
arrangements of this sort were, "dead as a door nail".
The United Kingdom Government saw serious disadvantages
from such an arrangement on account of the likely con-
cessions that would be necessary on the agricultural front without the full advantages of membership of the Common Market and of problems in relation to G.A.T.T. and the
Commonwealth. We were also much influenced by the
attitude of the United States Government. The Prime
Minister said that President Kiesinger had gone along
with the French initiative because of his need to maintain
the Franco/German relationship. We had not turned down
the proposition, but had said that we would be ready to
consider if a detailed proposal were forthcoming, but this
had not materialized.
/United States Economy.