CYPHER CAT A
PRIORITY UKMIS GENEVA
ΤΟ
TEL NO 551
CONFIDENTIAL
/NEUTRAL/
CONFIDENTIAL.
ضن
Vs File
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
14 OCTOBER 1969
AP 1/23/10
DDSD. TO F C O TEL NO 551 OF 14 OCTOBER REPTD FOR INFMN PRIORITY TO HONG KONG WASHINGTON TOKYO AND SAVING TO OTTAWA AND UKDEL EEC BRUSSELS
U S TEXTILE POLICY
R
200CT 1969
MKK 6/304/
AT YESTERDAY'S TALKS ON HONG KONG, WHICH LASTED ALL DAY, NEHMER LED THE US TEAM WITH SUPPORT FROM REPRESENTATIVES OF STATE AND LABOUR DEPARTMENTS. BRODIE AND CHOTINER WERE NOT AVAILABLE, AS AGREED, I TOOK THE CHAIR.
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WE THEN 2. AT THE OUTSET NEHMER REJECTED THE SELECTIVE APPROACH. LENT THROUGH THE HONG KONG NOTE PARAGRAPH BY PARAGRAPH. APART FROM GIVING SOME MORE RECENT FIGURES WHICH IN NO CASE SHOWED ANY SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE OVERALL SITUATION, NEHMER LAID EMPHASIS ON THE FOLLOWING POINTS:
(1) THE IMPORT/CONSUMPTION RATIO FOR MAN-MADE FIBRES (MMF) HAD NOW REACHED THE LEVEL REACHED FOR COTTON WHEN THE LTA WAS SIGNED
(2) GROWTH RATES (FOR IMPORTS) NATURALLY SLACKENED AS THE ABSOLUTE TOTALS GOT BIGGER, BUT IN ANY EVENT THE GROWTH RATE FOR APPAREL IMPORTS IN 1969 WAS HIGHER THAN IN 1968,
(3) IN VALUE TERMS THE IMPORT SHARE OF THE MARKET WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER, SHOWING THE EFFECT OF THE HIGH LEVEL OF APPAREL IMPORTS (ON THIS BASIS HONG KONG WAS THE THIRD SUPPLIER OF MMF, ON A VOLUME BASIS SHE WAS PRINCIPAL SUPPLIER OF COTTON, SECOND IN WOOL, FIFTH IN MMF AND SECOND, AFTER JAPAN, IN ALL TEXTILES),
(4) MMF IMPORTS WERE ROUGHLY DOUBLING EVERY TWO YEARS AND WERE NOW HIGHER THAN COTTON IMPORTS SO THAT ABSENCE OF RESTRAINT ON THE FORMER WAS ANOMALOUS (TO WHICH WE REPLIED THAT IT WAS THE LTA THAT WAS ANOMALOUS),
(5) THE NET COST OF THESE IMPORTS HAD RISEN BY DOLLAR 600 MILLION SINCE 1967 (THE QUOTE TEXTILE TRADE DEFICIT UNQUOTE ARGUMENT).
CONFIDENTIAL
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