467. Memorandum from Feldman to Herter, April 241
SUBJECT
- Trade Negotiations
The President asked me to write you in response to the two questions you raise in your memorandum of April 17.
The President approves your recommendation that all items subject to tariffs, with the exception of those noted in your memorandum, should be presented to the Tariff Commission for appropriate hearings and report to you and to the President.
[Typeset Page 1852]Your second question is more complicated. The President shares your doubts concerning prompt consideration of the actual negotiations. They will probably be sufficiently complex to take a minimum of 6 months. Accordingly, even if they begin during the latter part of April 1964, it is unlikely that they can be concluded before November 1964.
Larry O’Brien shares your feeling that they should not be an issue in the campaign. Certainly, the worst thing that could happen would be to have the results of the negotiations announced just before the election. However, assuming that our estimate of the length of time they would take is accurate, we could begin the negotiations late in April, and they would just be coming to an end at the time of the election. There would be no publicity until sometime after the election.
On the other hand, if we deferred initiating the negotiations until June or July, there might be a serious risk that they would not be concluded until sometime in 1965, and we see no reason for [Facsimile Page 2] holding them up that long. Therefore, assuming that it is still your feeling that the negotiations will continue beyond election day, the President feels they should be initiated toward the end of April.
to the President
- President’s decisions on Herter’s April 17 memorandum. Secret. 3 pp. Kennedy Library, Herter Papers, Memoranda to the President (10), Box 4. May 1963↩