RESTRICTED
TN(T)(78)?
21 February, 1978
GATT MULTILATERAL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS (MTNS)
CONSULTATION WITH INDUSTRY
Some things at least are clearer now than when I circulated my last note (on 14 February).
2. It is clear that the Commission will not be reacting formally to the US and Japanese industrial tariff offers until some work has been done on the scope for withdrawals on the part of the Community. The likelihood is that their proposals will not be available until 7 March and that these will go to the Foreign Affairs Council on 4 April.
3.
This inevitably means that the paragraph in our earlier note which said that "there may be little time" to consult industry on the Commission's proposals (paragraph 3 of the enclosure) was all too right..
4. What follows is a descriptive piece about both the US and Japanese offers (supplementing that in sub paragraph c. of the enclosure to the last note) followed by the questions the Commission are going to put to member states at a meeting of the Article 113 Committee (Deputies) on Friday, 24 February, together with an indication of the comments which, in the light of the work we have done already, we are inclined to give. What I should like to see from recipients by the evening of Thursday, 23 February, are any general comments and in particular any comments about individual commodity sectors which recipients may think I don't know about. I particularly value any views which enable me to say in terms that this or that US or Japanese offer of greater than formula cuts is of no value whatsoever: it is so easy to say that the offer is of relatively little value but it is much more difficult to go so far as to say that it is of no value at all.
5. It may be of interest to recipients to know that Mr. Braun of DG3 has written to Mr. Gray explaining the process of consultation with European industry which took place during the first half of 1975 and adding that regular contact with a number of the federations are continuing: it seems pretty clear from this that the Commission are not engaging in any systematic consultation with industry.
THE US OFFER
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6. The US can make a good show of presenting their offer as being absolutely splendid for the Community They have calculated that whereas the weighted average tariff reduction involved in their offer for third countries generally is 46% the comparable figure in respect of the Community is 52%. Furthermore they can claim correctly we think that once implemented cne half of thier imports will be able to enter duty free as compared to the present proportion of about a third. The Commission's own calculations have shown that as much as
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