with our general policy on international trade, and that in
the short term it would encourage supplying countries to get as
large a share of available imports as they could and therefore
to increase the pressure on the domestic industry. We do not
therefore feel that we can advocate such a scheme.
9. Our conclusion therefore is that the best chances of
offering confidence in the future to the industry lie in
making an approach along three lines, namely:-
a) we would like to discuss with the industry the scope
for encouraging investment (especially given the
tightness of labour in the East Midlands, in other
parts of the country) with appropriate assistance
from Regional Development Grants, the Industry Act,
etc. in those sectors of production (of which jumpers,
cardigans, etc., could well be one) offering prospects
of continuing viability under the protection of the
Common External Tariff.
c)
Since confidence on industry's part in such an
investment could be undermined by fears of disruptive
منضال السامي . سماسم
imports before a new capacity could establish itself,
we could emphasise again that we remain very ready
to consider action within the terms of Mr Chataway's
letter of 10 August should such a situation occur.
We can keep an oven closer watch..on the level of
imports of knitted cardigans, sewaters, etc. We
have already asked Hong Kong to keep us informed of
the current level of their export shipments in all
the categories covered by the case. This should give
us as up-to-date a picture as possible of the
situation.
له
2