Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume IX, International Development and Economic Defense Policy; Commodities

186. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations (MacArthur) to Senator Walter F. Mondale¹

Washington, February 8, 1967.

Dear Senator Mondale:

I have received your inquiry of January 31, 1967 concerning Mr. James Bormann’s interest in the possible extension of nondiscriminatory tariff treatment to the USSR and other Eastern European countries.²

Under section 231 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the President was expressly directed by the Congress not to extend nondiscriminatory tariff treatment to “any country or area dominated or controlled by Communism.” This provision was amended by section 402 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1963 to allow the continuation of nondiscriminatory tariff treatment for Yugoslavia and Poland. The Administration’s East-West trade legislation, which was sent to the Congress by the Secretary of State on May 11, 1966 at the President’s direction, would authorize the President to conclude commercial agreements with the USSR and the other Eastern European countries.³ In a commercial agreement concluded under the proposed legislation, the United States could grant nondiscriminatory tariff treatment to the USSR or one of the other Eastern European countries in exchange for equivalent benefits granted by the other party to the agreement. I am enclosing a copy of the Department of State press release which contains the texts of the proposed legislation and the Secretary of State’s letters to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House transmitting the legislation to the Congress.³

Shortly after the introduction of the legislation in the House and Senate in May last year, Chairman Mills of the House Ways and Means Committee, which must initiate hearings on the legislation, announced that his Committee’s schedule for the remainder of the session was too crowded to hold hearings on the East-West trade legislation. In his speech of October 7, 1966, the President stated that the Administration intended to continue its efforts to obtain passage of the proposed legislation.⁴ The President reaffirmed this position in his State of the Union message of January 10, 1967.⁵ The executive branch is now consulting in the Congress on the most appropriate means for moving ahead with this legislation. We cannot say at this time what the legislative timetable will be, nor would we wish to speculate now on ultimate Congressional action.

The President’s program to expand peaceful trade with Eastern Europe has stimulated considerable public discussion of this issue. A number of organizations have adopted public positions generally favorable to the proposed expansion of such trade. I am enclosing copies of several of these public statements which may be of interest to Mr. Bormann.⁶ Naturally, these statements do not represent an exhaustive survey. In addition, I am enclosing copies of recent speeches on East-West relations by Under Secretary of State Katzenbach, Deputy Under Secretary for Political Affairs Kohler, and then-Assistant Secretary of Commerce Trowbridge.⁷

I hope that you will find this information helpful. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to write.

Sincerely yours,

Douglas MacArthur II ⁸

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, TP 7–1. No classification marking. Drafted by Thomas M.T. Niles (EUR/SOV) on February 6 and cleared by Malcolm Toon and James L. Colbert (EUR/SOV) and Jack M. Fleischer (E/IS). A January 8, 1967, date stamped on the dateline is incorrect.
2. Not found.
3. See Document 181.
3. See Document 181.
4. For text of the President’s remarks to a National Conference of Editorial Writers in New York, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966, Book II, pp. 1125–1130.
5. Text ibid., 1967, Book I, pp. 2–14.
6. Not found.
7. Probably references to Katzenbach’s speech before the National Association of Manufacturers Annual Congress of American Industry in New York on December 9, 1966, and Kohler’s address before the Florida Department of the American Legion in Orlando on December 11, 1966. For texts, see Department of State Bulletin, January 2, 1967, pp. 2–5 and 6–11, respectively. Trowbridge’s speech has not been further identified.
8. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature and an indication that an H staff member signed for MacArthur.