29. Editorial Note
The U.S. balance-of-payments deficit concerned the administration increasingly in 1960. Documentation on this subject is in the compilation on international financial and monetary policy, but material in other compilations also reflects this concern. Efforts to increase U.S. exports are documented in the compilation on trade policy. The compilations on Mutual Security and on investment and development include material concerning the impact of economic and military assistance on the balance of payments; see especially Documents 261, 266, and 270.
On November 16, when gold withdrawals from the United States were increasing sharply, the President issued a directive declaring that it was “imperative that the United States give the very highest priority to attaining a reasonable equilibrium in its international balance of payments.” It outlined steps to be taken or intensified with respect to international trade, international finance, and the domestic economy, and it directed the heads of various agencies to take specific steps to reduce expenditures outside the United States, including reduction of the number of dependents of military and civilian personnel abroad, reduction of overseas procurement, and the requirement that the International Cooperation Administration and the Development Loan Fund place primary emphasis on financing goods and services of U.S. origin. For text of the directive, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pages 786–792. See also Documents 57 and 58.
On December 6, Secretary of the Treasury Robert B. Anderson discussed the balance-of-payments problem with President-elect John F. Kennedy; see Document 62.