Reference.... HKK 6/31
27
Mr. Carter
It is difficult to tell from Geneva telegram 453 (paragraph 4), which is all I have seen so far (apart from Mr. Jordan's telegram) about the recently concluded CTC discussions, how much was said about the working party. However, I assume that any urgency has gone out of this question until nearer the time of the next meetings in December.
2. I think we can go along with Mr. Whitehead's line that is so far as we can go along with any line tending to the setting up of a working party or fact finding group whatever it may be called. We may try to minimise the risks by careful drafting of the terms of referece but I doubt if we shall remove the risks. One difficulty seems to be that the object from our point of view in setting up the working party is apparently seen as the production of evidence to Americans that there is no factual basis of support for their contention that their textiles industry is being damaged. But supposing that the working party were to find a factual basis that any other country's industry was being damaged by the import of non-cotton textiles then surely we should be in exactly the same position. Can we be sure that nowhere over the whole field will there be a country or countries with a good case to argue for the restriction of non-cotton textile imports?
3. Another problem seems to me to be that although there are advantages in approximating to the intro- ductory wording of GATT or the LTA so as to establish from the start that the end objective is the liberali- sation of trade by doing so we might invite a duplica- tion of the LTA for non-cottons.
Mauv
(H. H. Stewart)
14 October 1969
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.