Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume IV, Foreign Assistance, International Development, Trade Policies, 1969–1972

333. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the Chairman of the National Security Council Under Secretaries Committee (Irwin)¹

Washington, June 9, 1971.

SUBJECT

• Trade with the People’s Republic of China

The President has made the following decisions on the basis of your memorandum of May 13, 1971:²

• —The Department of Commerce should be prepared to release the list of non-strategic items on general license for export to China.
• —Wheat, other grains and wheat flour should be placed on general license for shipment to the PRC, Eastern Europe and the USSR.
• —Imports from the PRC should be permitted under a general license subject to possible future import restrictions in the future if trade developments so dictate.
• —For items not on the general list, individual export licenses should be considered on their merits.
• —In the course of normal interdepartmental review of further items for open general license to Eastern Europe and the USSR, the agencies may consider placing further items on the China open license list. The China items should, however, be submitted to the President for approval before public announcement.
• —The Under Secretaries Committee should provide by August 15³ an analysis of the results of these initial steps along with recommendations on further measures in this field.

Henry A. Kissinger

1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, S/S Files: Lot 73 D 288, NSC Under Secretaries Committee Miscellaneous Memoranda 1971-1972. Secret. The decisions in this memorandum were announced to the public in a June 10 White House Press Release; see Department of State Bulletin, June 28, 1971, pp. 815-817.
2. Document 331.
3. The report was finally sent to the President on January 13, 1972; see Documents 353 and 354.