NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN in this MARGIN
CONFIDENTIAL
entry into
that it would see us through till our /entry into
the EEC on 1 January, 1973 required us to move to
the Community's own system. But late last
year it became apparent that
some of our suppliers
で
and let me say at once that Hong Kong was not one
of those closely concerned were proposing to flood
us with goods in such quantities that orderly
marketing would have become impossible. I do not
exaggerate when I say that orders which were triple
the previous quota allocation of certain suppliers
had been teid placed.
15.
It was
This was a situation we simply could not
ignore. However your quota, which is much the largest of all those allocated, does account for 2/5 of your
total imports of cotton textiles. Do not think that
in our talks with your textile delegation, which I
was able to welcome in London, we were being
hard hearted. We offered you a reasonable bargain
which we hoped would meet your needs.
unacceptable to you. Since then we have both looked
again at the situation and I am happy to say that
agreement ad referendum to our two Governments seems
likely to be reached on a new offer we have made
As a dependency you of course have a prior
claim on us. We recognise this and have tried our
best to meet your requirements, but you will
understand that there are limits beyond which we
cannot go without imperilling the system of
multilateral trade under the GATT which is our
bulwark against the spread of protection 7
to you.
/16.