TNAG-0147-FCO40-183-Exports-of-textiles-to-United-States-of-America-1969 — Page 70

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He had not yet accepted that there was such a problem.

To sum up, he said that careful note had been taken of

what the U.S. Government representatives had had to say

and reports would now be made to the U.K. and H.K.

Governments.

There would no doubt be further discussions

between the U.K. and H.K. Governments and further con-

sideration given to whether there was a need for the two

Governments to change their earlier stand on this issue.

He thought that the response was most likely to be that

some other means would have to be found of solving the

problem. The principal difficulty at the moment in taking

the matter further was that there was in G.A.T.T. a need

to limit action to the particular products causing damage.

Which those particular products were was still not clear

and thus he and his colleagues found difficulty in responding

in a helpful way.

77.

Mr. Nehmer said he could not understand where

a new issue of principle arose for Hong Kong in arriving

at a comprehensive bilateral agreement. Exports of non-

cotton shirts from Hong Kong to Canada provided a good

example of how trade moved ahead of controls. He would

therefore like to have Hong Kong's views on where the

difference lay between a selective and comprehensive

approach.

/78.

CONFIDENTIAL