TNAG-0145-FCO40-181-Exports-of-textiles-to-United-States-of-America-1969 — Page 142

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THIS AND WOULD BE UNOBTAINABLE UNLESS CONGRESS

COULD BE INFORMED THAT THE TEXTILE PROBLEM HAD BEEN SOLVED. THE PROBLEM MUST BE SOLVED AND IF, WITHIN NINETY DAYS, INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSIONS COULD NOT BE ARRANGED WHICH OFFERED SOME SHOW OF PROGRESS OR HOPE, THE ADMINISTRATION WOULD WITHDRAW THE RESTRAINT IT HAD BEEN KEEPING ON CONGRESS, STANS SPOKE VERY FORCIBLY.

3. IN REPLY, THE COMMISSION SAID THAT THEY WERE STILL AWAITING A DEMONSTRATION THAT THERE WAS A DANGER OF DISRUPTION FOR THE U.S. INDUSTRY. THEY HAD SEEN NO CONCRETE ECONOMIC INFORMATION WHICH WOULD ENABLE THEM TO JUDGE THE NECESSITY OF THE GLOBAL APPROACH WHICH THE U.S. HAD MOUNTED. IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HAVE THIS. ACTION IN THE CASE OF SUCH AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY AS TC TEXTILE INDUSTRY WOULD CREATE A PRECEDENT IN RESPECT BOTH OF OTHER INDUSTRIES AND OTHER COUNTRIES.

4. THE COMMISSION WENT ON TO SUGGEST THAT THE U.S.. ADMINISTRATION SHOULD LOOK INTO THE POSSIBILITY OF FINDING SPECIFIC INSTANCES OF LOCAL DIFFICULTIES WITH A VIEW TO PROCEEDING BY WAY OF ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE.

5. THE COMMISSION POINTED OUT THAT THE RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL RULES WERE SET OUT IN ARTICLE XIX OF THE GATT. THEY HAD, SO FAR, SEEN NO JUSTIFICATION FOR A GLOBAL APPROACH BY THE U.S. IN TERMS OF ARTICLE XIX. THEY STRESSED THAT THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE EUROPEAN INDUSTRY WERE EVEN GREATER THAN THOSE FACED BY THE U.S. INDUSTRY. AT THIS STAGE, STAMS CLAIGED THAT AN INCREASE IN TEXTILE IMPORTS INTO THE U.S. AT CNLY TWO-THIRDS OF THE CURRENT RATE WOULD, OVER A PERIOD OF EIGHT YEARS, ELIMINATE 620,000 JOBS. THE COMMISSION SAID THAT THE U.S. INDUSTRY WAS ABOUT THE SAME SIZE AS THE COMBINED EUROPEAN INDUSTRIES AND THAT, CALCULATING OVER A PERIOD OF TEN YEARS, THE E.E.C. HAD ARRIVED AT VERY MUCH THE

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