260. Letter From the Australian Ambassador (Renouf) to President Carter1
Australia’s Prime Minister, Mr Malcolm Fraser, has asked me to convey the following message to you:
“My dear Jimmy,
It was a pleasure to see you in Washington earlier this month2 and I greatly valued the opportunity to have a good talk with you on a wide range of subjects. Your kind hospitality in making Blair House available was most appreciated; it is a most agreeable place to stay, and it enabled me to have a very full round of consultations during my short visit.
The United States and Australia have a long experience of very close cooperation in good times and bad, and I think that cooperation is going to be much needed in 1979 and the years ahead. Apart from global economic and other problems of mutual interest, the pressures and strains that are so evident now in the Asia-Pacific area will require careful and continuing attention.
I was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to brief you on the outcome of the Jamaica meeting and in turn to be briefed by you on recent United States policy initiatives in the international arena.
There is one matter of particular concern to me and my Government that I should like to raise with you. I refer to our mutual interest in a successful conclusion to the Multilateral Trade Negotiations. No doubt you have read the letter my colleague, the Deputy Prime Minister, sent to Ambassador Strauss outlining the Australian position,3 but I felt I should take this opportunity to make you personally aware of our concerns.
As foreshadowed by my colleague in his letter to Ambassador Strauss, the Australian Government has now reviewed the latest developments in the MTN overall, and particularly in relation to the treatment of agricultural subsidies in the subsidies code and the outlook for negotiations to liberalise trade in beef.
I have reported to my colleagues in Cabinet on the relevant discussions which I held while I was in the United States. It is as disappointing [Page 858] to my colleagues as it was to me that the United States has not been able to negotiate with the EEC more satisfactory provisions in relation to export subsidies on agricultural products.
Australia believes that a truly successful MTN must be balanced and equitable, and we do not consider this position has yet been reached, especially in respect of agriculture. It came as a disappointment to us that the United States concluded bilateral arrangements in circumstances which will so clearly influence the prospects of other agricultural exporters in the remaining negotiations. I refer particularly to the understandings you have reached with the EEC on the subsidies and countervailing code and on beef access.
No such access has yet been offered to Australia by the Community despite many months of negotiations. All the information and attitudes reported to us from Europe in recent weeks, and our own experiences of dealing with the EEC for over a decade, confirm that the EEC will not be moved by logic or justice alone. Support from the U.S. would be helpful, perhaps essential, if we are to achieve our modest objectives and therefore I would like to suggest that our senior officials meet promptly to work out the best means of cooperation to this end.
The position we now face is that the EEC apparently finds itself unable to offer Australia, a traditional and at one stage very significant supplier of beef to the EEC, any increased predictable access but is able to do so for the United States, which has not such a tradition of beef exports to Europe. This possibility is one which would bring forth a strong feeling of resentment from Australian producers. I want to work with you to ensure that this is avoided and that the post-MTN trading world is not marred by immediate bitterness.
I hope it will be possible for us to draw closer together in the remaining important stage of negotiations. We are still of the view that closer cooperation between the United States and Australia will lead to more positive and constructive negotiations resulting in a more balanced and equitable MTN. I know you share my view that this will be in the interests of both our countries and of the wider international community. An MTN outcome which produced some liberalisation of trade in industrial products but not in agricultural products such as beef would be totally inequitable.
As you will know the news of an exclusive arrangement negotiated between the United States and the EEC on beef—one of our major exports—was the cause of a considerable depth of concern here. I personally emphasise that concern to you and sincerely hope that all further misunderstandings can be avoided.
Our talk in Washington reinforced my conviction on the need to bring inflation under control. I was therefore not surprised, but very gratified to learn of the measures you have included in the budget [Page 859] proposals you have just announced. These are the right steps; they are moreover courageous steps in present circumstances and I most warmly congratulate you on them. You have my warmest good wishes in the efforts you will now be making to have your policies accepted by Congress.
Yours sincerely,
(Malcolm Fraser).”
Yours sincerely,
Ambassador
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Far East, Platt Chron File, Box 66, 2/1–13/79. Confidential.↩
- See Document 259.↩
- Not found.↩