138. Editorial Note
On November 15, the Department of State announced that the number of public advisers in the U.S. Delegation to the 1961 Geneva tariff conference would be increased to 12. Previous delegations to meetings of the GATT Contracting Parties had had 3 or 4 public members. (Department of State Bulletin, December 5, 1960, pages 876–877)
Two days later, the White House released a directive by President Eisenhower on steps to be taken to rectify the balance-of-payments problem. Dated November 16, the paper declared that in the area of international trade, the United States had to:
- “(a) Continue to press other countries urgently, and particularly those that are economically and financially strong, to reduce tariffs, relax quotas, and remove trade restrictions that hamper United States exports, and also urge these countries to reduce or eliminate internal taxes and other measures that have a special impact in curtailing their purchases of United States goods and services.
- “(b) Continue to take all responsible means to increase our exports, including facilitating the financing of exports where this is needed to increase our sales both of consumer goods and capital goods.” (American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pages 786–792; see also Document 59)
Under Secretary Dillon and Secretary of the Treasury Anderson visited Bonn November 19–23. Upon their return to Washington on November 28, they met with the President to report on their trip; see Document 61. Following this discussion, Eisenhower announced that U.S.-German conversations about the removal of German restrictions on U.S. agricultural products would continue. For text of his statement, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pages 364–365.