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subject from the general international trade angle,
forestalling at the same time any US attempt to sell
the GPS as an adequate substitute for Commonwealth or
EEC association agreements (their permanent delegate
at OECD recently read us a private lecture on the
merits of the GPS as contrasted with the alleged
demerits of "discriminatory" preferential arrangements).
a) Developing countries' dissatisfaction with world
trade patterns is making them increasingly rest-
less in GATT. They too are alarmed by the threat
of a trade war. We must hope that the UNCTAD gen-
eralised preference scheme will do something to
soothe them, despite its meagre coverage of
agricultural produce, the main item of e xport in-
terest to the poorest countries. It is impossible
to calculate the likely benefits of the GPS at
this stage, but Commonwealth developing countries
are increasingly apprehensive that its overall ef-
fect on them will turn out to be prejudicial. It
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is impossible to say as of now that these fears
will not prove well-founded.
b) The UK is nevertheless proceeding towards im-
plementation. Parliamentary controversy is not
anticipated, and our legislative processes should
be completed by early autumn. However, we would
not wish to implement our scheme before the other
major donors, especially the US, are also ready -
precisely because of the need to compensate the
Commonwealth for having to share their existing
benefits in the UK market. When is the American
scheme likely to go before Congress? When, and in
what form is it likely to emerge?
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