To:-
Top Secret. Secret.
Confidential
Restricted. Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
...In Confidence
1166
NITU 15/1
!
3.W. Meynell Esq., British Embassy, Washington
From M. Perceval
Telephone No. & Ext.
Department
US GENERALISED PREFERENCES
We owe you a reply to your letters of 18 June and 15 July on the American GPS and the Hong Kong and reverse preferences aspects thereof. We prepared brief ing on these aspects for the Kissinger visit, emphasis ing the political implications as you suggested, but time did not permit of their being raised with him. 2. The Japanese have privately reiterated Mr Aichi's commitment that Hong Kong and other dependencies would indeed receive preferences at a later stage. The phrase used to me last week when the Japanese handed over the documentation of their definitive scheme was that Hong Kong "would not catch the first teina, but the yon20 Do a second train" for her to cach. However, there is no further information as to when that train will leave the platform, or precisely what kinds of luggage the passengers will be allowed to load onto it.
3.
However, it may be of some consolation to Hong Kong and the Commonwealth developing countries adverse ly affected by the reverse preferences condition, that so long as there is no American GPS, they are not suffering discrimination in the US market. Other beneficiaries, and especially other donors cannot feel the same degree of equanimity.
4. We have not held up our own plans, despite the American hiatus, as you will have seen from our re- cent Guidance (165 of 27 July) and previous telegrams to Commonwealth posts and those in the "non-benefic- iary" countries (Nos. 377 to Accra of 16 July and 1054 to Ankara of 23 July). We do not believe that our decision to implement will have any strong posi- tive effect on Congress, but at least it should remove