TNAG-0299-FCO40-335-Entitlement-of-Hong-Kong-to-generalized-tariffs-preferences--1971 — Page 167

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

$

egistry

No.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret. Secret.

CONFIDENTIAL

DRAFT

Letter

To:-

Confidential.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

.In Confidence

B W Meynell Esq

WASHINGTON

US GENERALISED PREFERENCES

Type 1 +

From

Telephone No, & Ext.

Department

1

Many thanks for your letter of 1 May.

2.

What you say about the Congressional difficulties

ahead whether Congress will pass legislation at all

and whether, if they do, they will attach restrictive

provisions on quotas or beneficiaries makes of course

-

gloomy reading. While also it is very useful for us

to know the state of play in Washington as the

Administration gears itself up towards legislation;

we cannot help feeling some concern that the

recommendations reaching the White House on two issues

which are important to us

reverse preferences and

the inclusion of Hong Kong

may be unsatisfactory in

respect of our own interests.

3. Having been struck by the contrast between,on the one hand Nat Samuels' remarks to Mr Rippon and others that the US might be prepared to drop its insistence

that countries wishing to benefit from the American

offer should make a declaration of intent to abolish

reverse preferences,and, on the other, Cronk's view, as recorded in paragraph 7 of your letter, that assurance however informal would have to be obtained before any country became eligible to benefit, xxxke I sought to

obtain some clarification of Samuels

1 intentions from

Rogers of the US Embassy last week.

Samuels

Rogers said that

intention was to air one of the possibilities

CONFIDENTIAL

/which

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