COPY
RESTRICTED
Hon. Financial Secretary
Director of Commerce and Industry
(56) in CR/EIC. 111/2/4 223968
5 August, 1969
IV
20 AUG 1969
U.S. Textile Policy
31 A
Mr. Hodgson, U.S. Under-Secretary for Labour, called on me on 1 August, accompanied by Mr. Monroe of the Consulate-General, who had indi- cated beforehand that Mr. Hodgson would like to discuss working conditions, economic conditions and employment patterns in Hong Kong. I said that I was prepared to see him but that most of this was rather the concern of the Commissioner of Labour than of this department.
2.
It will not surprise you to learn that Mr. Hodgson had no wish to discuss the se subjects but took up two quite different subjects. He had just come from Japan where he had been with the American Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce in their discussions with the Japanese Government and he had clearly come to Hong Kong partly to support hr. Stans' line. but more to ascertain whether there had heer any change of attitude here since Mr. Stans' visit. I think I made it quite clear to him that there has been no change and when he rehearsed some of the American arguments and talked about his concern about the possibility that the import graph line might cross the domestic production line, I said that while I can see a possibility that this might happen in particular products I could not see it happening in textiles generally when American products were being measured in billions of pounds and imports only in lions.
3.
When he spoke of concern about the labour situation and particu- larly the employment of 'disadvantaged people'. by which he means negroes in the Southern States. reminded him that the figure of 21 million for employment in the textile induet es
25 un all-time high.
4.
፡፡
T will not repeat repetition of what : said in tha
sail because it was for the most part a Hiscussion with Mr. Stans.
`r. Hodgson played the whole thin in a very "low key" and whereas Mr. Stans had been much more erat tie about the real danger to the merican industry that he claimed was present id be mounting imports. Mr. Hodgson gave the impression of speaking tre a brief on a subject over which he was not really very upset. He reall aired only that textile imports posed a possible threat of future disruption,
but admitting that at present
al!
at least there is no economic naso but only a political problem.
countrie
He shave?
irte rest in our non-cotton agreements with other Vain 1 speke en rhe lines we took with 'r. Stans - ready to talk about Article XIX-type cases for particular products but emphasised that we did not go around cones every case. I quoted our negotiations with Sweden four meetings in muary. February. April and June and told him that in the first case we had refused to concede one out of three and in the second two out of five. Yr. Hodgson didn't seem much encouraged.
7.
ificance that an officer of the Department tans has made such strong statements,
it may be of some si of Labour, on whose hehalf Mr. appeared far less excited than the
ommerce Department people.
On August 7 had Punch, at the invitation of Mr. Norton Bach. with Ar. thony Jurich, Special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, !r.
Bach told me that he reports to the Treasury through Mr. Jurich.
C.
i had expected that the conversation would be about wigs or the relaxation in 2.0.0, requirements, but again Mr. Jurich wanted to talk about P.S. textile policy. lle too had been in Tokyo with Secretaries Rogers and
Stans.
10./
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