141. Memorandum From President Eisenhower to Secretary of State Herter0
In your memorandum of December fifth concerning the forthcoming tariff conference in Geneva,1 I was struck by your statement that “Unless the United States is able to induce the EEC to accept a one-sided agreement—and this is not a possibility to be relied upon—the United States will be unable to take full advantage of the offer already made by the EEC to reduce its common external tariff by 20 percent provided adequate reciprocity is offered by other countries in return.”
While the phrase “this is not a possibility to be relied upon” is possibly technically correct, it seems to me we ought to put our own current balance of payments situation very strongly before the conferees and make unmistakably clear that we have gotten into this situation through generous and liberal assistance and trading policies. Now it is time for them to do their share, and a failure on their part to do so would bring into question our basic relationships and attitudes toward these problems.
Incidentally, I wonder whether reduction by the EEC of its common external tariff by 20% is going to amount to anything like a 20% reduction in the individual tariffs its members now maintain toward us.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, Dulles–Herter Series. Confidential.↩
- Document 140.↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this stamped signature.↩