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been left in abeyance and the 'Decision' of 19 November 1960
had never been formally adopted. The Working Party on
Market Disruption had led to the L.T.A. and had never
itself been revived. Sir Eugene Melville thought it would
however be necessary to convince other G.A.T.T.
members
that the proposals were compatible.
81.
Mr. Nehmer said he still could not understand
why, if Hong Kong was ready to consider a selective approach,
the U.S. proposals which went only slightly beyond this
were unacceptable.
82.
Mr. Jordan said first they established a precedent
which if widely followed would be damaging to international
trade in general.
Secondly G.A.T.T. Article XIX referred
to damage to industry by specific products. Thirdly one
of the basic aims of the G.A.1.7. was to eliminate restric-
tions on trade and to confine those shown to be necessary,
to the absolute minimum, and to where damage to domestic
producer was occurring or there was a threat of such damage
and the threat must be an actual threat, not merely a potential
one.
The U.S. proposals called for restraints across the board
which would mean restraints on products which were not causing
damage and on products which Hong Kong did not even export.
83.
Mr. Nehmer said this was no different from Hong Kong's
cotton bilateral agreement. Mr. Jordan pointed out that there
was an international instrument for use in connection with
/problems
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