TNAG-0142-FCO40-178-Long-term-policy-on-International-trade-in-textiles-1969 — Page 200

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Ltherefore

a) refusing to agree to the imposition of restrictions on exports by Hong Kong unless and until a case has been made out by the importing country under Article XIX of the G.A.T.T.;

a) continuing to advocate the removal of tariffs and quotas on imports from the developing countries of all non-cotton textiles.

Attitude of other countries

13.

It must be assumed that, at least for the time being, the Americans will continue to press for the extension of restrictions to all non-cotton textiles to

redeem kr. Nixon's campaign pledge to the American textile industry. In the short-term it is actually to our advantage that the Americans should continue to take this line, for it is the best possible guarantee that, in spite of the pressures from the textile industry, the E.E.C. countries will continue to oppose Mr. Stans' proposals. He has made it quite clear that any restraints would have to include Italian knitwear and Prato

woollens. The problen in the case of the Six will come when they try to make up their minds on what to do on 1st January 1970, by which time they are required to have a common commercial policy. There are signs that the Six will as before try to resolve their difficultics by adoping the restrictive policies of the French towards Hong Kong and other developing countries. This would have serious implications for us if we were to join the Common Market because it would mean imposing restrictions on imports of all textiles and clothing from one of our dependent territories in contravention

of the G.A.T.T. Our hope musthiie in German resistance to any proposal to extend quotas outside the cotton field, though it is clear that the German Government will come under heavy pressure from German industry to agree to restrictive proposals.

14.

The Scandinavian countries and Canada are also under pressure from their domestic industries and have so far taken the line of least resistance by pressing