611.4131/193
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Trade Agreements (Hawkins)
Mr. Chalkley was invited to come in to discuss the status of the studies which are being made regarding the prospect of undertaking trade agreement negotiations. It was recalled that on the last occasion when this subject was discussed, it was agreed that we would prepare a tentative list of products on which the United States probably would ask concessions if trade agreement negotiations were undertaken, and an indication in each case of the nature of the concession which would probably be desired.
Mr. Chalkley was informed that these studies had now gone far enough so that we could estimate the time which would be required to complete them; that the list would be ready by November 16. It was pointed out to Mr. Chalkley, however, that it is necessary to have both lists (i. e., the list representing our probable requests for concessions by Great Britain and the list representing their probable requests for concessions by us) before a decision could be reached whether a basis for negotiations exists. It is, therefore, desirable that Great Britain’s requests of the United States be ready on November 16 so that the lists might be exchanged on that date. In this connection, it was agreed that if a trade agreement is to be negotiated before the Act under authority of which such agreements are concluded in this country is due to expire, it will be necessary to reach a decision regarding such negotiations not long after November 16.
Mr. Chalkley referred to the list which he had given us on June 24 and inquired why this did not meet the requirements. He was informed that the list given to us was too general to permit us to form an adequate idea of the scope of the British requests. Mr. Chalkley also referred to the lack of adequate organization in Great Britain for making the necessary studies in the short time available. In order to assist in this, he was given a copy of the attached table of trade statistics50 which had been compiled here and which shows in detail the trade situation and tariff treatment of products of which the United Kingdom has been the chief source of importations into this country. Mr. Chalkley was informed that this list is nothing more than it purports to be, namely, a compilation of factual material such as the British Government itself could compile. Since we had already completed this work, no purpose would be served if the British were required to duplicate it, and time would be saved by giving it to [Page 688] them. It was emphasized that this compilation does not represent a list of products on which the United States would consider granting concessions but that, on the contrary, it would inevitably be subject to additions and subtractions in the light of further study and consideration. Mr. Chalkley indicated that with this large amount of factual information already assembled, the task of formulating the British requests would be greatly facilitated and he thought it possible that the list of possible British requests could be given to us on November 16.
The procedure after November 16 in reaching a decision as to whether a basis for negotiations exists was then discussed. It was agreed that each Government would consider the requests of the other, make up its mind in general how far it would probably be able to go in meeting these requests, and would advise the other Government in this regard. Each Government would, of course, postpone giving any final decision on any point until it had full opportunity for consideration in the light of views presented by domestic interests after negotiations had been announced. If each felt that the other could probably go sufficiently far in meeting its requests, negotiations could then be undertaken.
It was again reiterated on both sides that the present discussions are purely informal and personal and involve no commitments of any kind.
It was also agreed that no publicity whatever should be given to these exploratory discussions or the fact that they are taking place. If either Government finds it necessary to obtain information from the trade in connection with the formulation of its tentative list of requests, care should be taken to avoid making known the reasons why such information is sought.
- Not printed.↩