Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, National Security Affairs; Foreign Economic Policy, Volume I

International Trade Files, Lot 57 D 284, Box 138¹

Mr. E. T. Casdagli of the United Kingdom Delegation to the Torquay Conference to Mr. James H. Lewis of the United States Delegation ²

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Torquay , March 14, 1951.

Dear Jim: When I told you the day before yesterday that, after consultation with the other Commonwealth Delegations concerned, we were not able to make concessions in our tariff on agricultural products which you considered of major importance to you, you expressed the view that in these circumstances any agreement between us would, of necessity, be limited since, in the absence of such agricultural concessions on our part, you would be unable to maintain the offers which you have made on certain items which are of difficulty for you.

I believe that you are considering the offers you would make to us on the assumption that we maintain all our offers to you. On the basis of a “limited agreement”, however, and without prejudice to our original request list and the basis on which it was submitted, I think that I should let you have the enclosed list of items on which we should expect to receive offers from you if any agreement between us, on this limited scale, is to be of practical value to us. I should be glad if you would consider this list as a revised request list in what one would have to regard as changed circumstances; meanwhile, we are considering the various elements in our offer list to you to determine the extent to which we should be prepared to maintain them against this revised request list on our part.

You will no doubt take the enclosure to this letter into account in formulating the offers to us which you have under consideration.³

Yours sincerely,

Cas

Annex

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Tariff No. Ex.	Description	Imports from U.K. in 1949 $ ‘000
11 and 31a	Polyethylene & acrylic resin	N.S.S.
202	Tiles	5
211	Earthenware	3,089
212	China	2,969
371	Bicycle parts (other than frames)	136
372	Bradford combs	40
372	Winders and parts	16
506	Sugar candy	572
751	Orange marmalade & stone fruit jams	88
802	Whisky	39,234
917	Cotton knit outerwear	150
1004 A	Flax yarn and thread	527
1007	Hoses	33
1108 & 1109	Woolen piecegoods	14,199
1114	Woolen knitwear	2,120
1115 A	Woolen clothing	1,799
1116 B	Carpets	490
1529 A	Nets and netting	2
1530 E	Footwear	1,150
1530 F	Harness and saddlery	133
1531	Leather goods	479
	Total	67,231

1. Comprehensive collection of files on commercial trade policy, the question of an international trade organization, and the negotiation, conclusion, and operation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, assembled and maintained in various economic offices of the Department of State during the years 1934–1956.
2. Source text was United States Delegation document Supplement 1 to Doc. TAC D–98/51, March 14, 1951. Casdagli was Deputy Head of the British negotiating team and Lewis was Deputy Head of the United States negotiating team.
3. In reporting the receipt of this letter with its list, the Delegation informed the Department of State that “The list included most of the controversial items, and was clearly intended to inform us that the U.K. did not want a limited agreement without [these] controversial items. TAC consideration has been deferred pending further consultations at the head-of-delegation level. It is obvious that the U.K. and Commonwealth, or at least Australian, positions have been coordinated with a view to putting the maximum pressure upon us.” (Weekly Report No. 21 (pt. 2), March 20, 394.31/3–2051)