Furthermore, since the Commission will have the difficult task of renegotiating these agreements next year to take account of the entry of the UK and the other three applicants, we cannot now confidently forecast the form that these agreements will take; nor can we ignore the possibility that by then the Community will have agreements with a number of additional countries. In dovising any system to restrict UK imports in 1972, we therefore consider that the most we can do to facilitate later adaptation · to the LLC's regime (whatever that may by then be) is to avoid measures which would clearly put us further out of line with the general direction of EEC policy. Neither of the methodo outlined in paragraphs 31-39 would, in our view, be likely to inhibit future alignment.
20. It could be argued that because the Community Agreeam to do not cover cotton yarn, it should be excluded from any import restrictions on cotton textiles that we may decide to impose. However, this would draw bitler protests from the independent
Lancashire spinners who have been prominent in the recent lobbying for import controls. Spinning tends to be concentrated in particular Lancashire towns, with unemployment rates which are currently higher than in recent years and ero now near to the national average.
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SHOULD ACTION BI TAKEN TO RESTRICT IMPORTS OF NON-COTTON TATIMES?
21. There are basically two arguments in favour of inposing restrictions on imports of non-cotton textiles. Che first la
that we face a risk of diversion of non-cotton textiles from
the four main Asian suppliers which have just entered into agreements to restrein their exports of non-cotton tontiles to the UBA. The second is that man-made fibre textiles are now so
directly competitive with cotton textiles, especially in the field of garments, that it makes no sense and may in fuct be incffective to impose restrictions against the one without restricting the other, particularly since, after the imposition
of the new tariff on Commonwealth cotton textiles at the
beginning of 1972, thero will be very little difference between
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