185. Memorandum of Conversation1
SUBJECT
- Hearings on East-West Trade
PARTICIPANTS
- Congressman Hale Boggs (D., La.)
- Ambassador MacArthur, Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations (H)
- Mr. Schnee, Legislative Officer (H)
- Mr. Greenwald, Deputy Assistant Secretary (E/ITP)
Ambassador MacArthur explained that he wanted to talk informally about the possibility of Mr. Boggs’ Subcommittee on Trade of the Joint Economic Committee holding hearings on East-West trade. He said that, at a meeting just before Christmas in Little Rock with Under Secretary Katzenbach, Chairman Mills of the Ways and Means Committee had agreed to hold hearings on East-West trade legislation.2 However, the Ways and Means Committee had first to take up the debt ceiling, Social Security, and taxes and would not be able to get around to East-West trade hearings until June, at the earliest. Therefore, Chairman Mills had suggested the possibility of hearings by the Joint Economic Committee. Ambassador MacArthur stressed that these hearings could not, of course, substitute for Ways and Means Committee hearings, but would be helpful in getting before the Congress and the public the positive arguments for an expansion of trade with Eastern Europe.
Mr. Boggs recalled that the trade agreements legislation expired on June 30 and that the Ways and Means Committee would have to hold trade hearings in any event. He wondered why East-West trade could not be covered in these hearings. Ambassador MacArthur pointed out that hearings on general trade legislation would have to await the outcome of the Kennedy Round. Also, it was preferable to keep East-West trade separate from the regular trade agreements program.
Mr. Boggs said it would be difficult to sell East-West trade legislation as long as we were fighting in Viet Nam. He reported that Congressman Laird had told him informally that he was in favor of East-West trade but would not support legislation as long as the Eastern European countries were supplying North Viet Nam. In response to Mr. Boggs’ question as to how we rebutted this position, Mr. Greenwald said the [Page 530] President and Secretary of State had given the answer: while we strongly resist aggression in Southeast Asia, it is in our national interest at the same time to seek areas of peaceful cooperation with the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe. Also, there was a great deal of change going on in Eastern Europe and increased trade would promote these liberalizing trends. Ambassador MacArthur cited Yugoslavia as an example of the direction we hoped other Eastern European countries would move in. Mr. Boggs agreed that Yugoslavia was a very good example of the benefit of such trade.
Ambassador MacArthur said that Tony Solomon had talked to Congressman Reuss, who favored East-West trade hearings and would provide Mr. Boggs with all the assistance he could. Mr. Boggs agreed that his heavy duties as Democratic Whip would make it difficult for him to preside over hearings continuously.
At the end of the discussion, Mr. Boggs said he believed that hearings should be held by his Subcommittee. The Joint Economic Committee had not yet been organized, but he would talk to Mr. Reuss about the hearings as soon as possible. He thought it might be possible to hold them in March. Mr. Boggs asked Ambassador MacArthur to check with him again on Tuesday, January 24 for a final answer.