611.4231/925
The Chairman of the Committee on Trade Agreements (Grady) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Sayre)
Mr. Sayre: The Trade Agreements Committee at its meeting of November 9, approved the following proposals regarding a trade agreement with Canada:
The Canadian Minister would be informed that this Government is prepared to study the scope and terms of a trade agreement to be concluded with Canada and the suggestion would be made to the Minister that his Government make similar studies. As soon as the studies have been completed by both governments each would indicate the concessions which it would seek to obtain from the other under the proposed agreement. The desiderata submitted by each government would then be studied by the other and an exchange of views would take place to determine whether a basis for an agreement exists and the scope of the agreement. If both Governments agree on the basis and scope of the agreement, formal announcement of the intention to negotiate a trade agreement with Canada would be made as required by the Trade Agreements Act.15 The fact that these studies are being made would not be made public until the preliminary studies have been completed and discussed in a preliminary way by the two governments, and until a decision to make formal announcement as provided in the Trade Agreements Act had been reached. By deferring public announcement until after the studies have been completed and preliminary discussions between the two governments have taken place, the proposed agreement might be announced as a limited agreement if this is agreed upon, and some indication of the scope of the proposed agreement might be made public. The plan is that the preliminary studies would be completed by the middle of January.
- 48 Stat. 943.↩