243. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State (Ball) to President Kennedy0
SUBJECT
- Conclusion of GATT Tariff Negotiations
I am transmitting herewith Memoranda from the Chairman and the Alternate Chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements (TAC)1 recommending that you approve the results of tariff negotiations with the European Economic Community and with other countries including the United Kingdom, and that you authorize the termination of certain bilateral trade agreements suspended in 1947 when [Page 521] the countries concerned acceded to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The signing of the agreements is now scheduled for March 5 at Geneva, with publication of the results the following day, March 6. This timing is governed by our interest in announcing the results of the Geneva negotiations before the opening on March 12 of the hearings on the Administration’s trade bill in the House Ways and Means Committee. Your approval is requested in time to enable our representatives at Geneva to sign on March 5.
The negotiations thus far concluded over all countries with which we negotiated at Geneva except Spain. Due to a late start by the Spanish these negotiations cannot be completed in time for signing on March 5. When they are completed, a further memorandum requesting your approval will be sent to you.
I recommend that you approve the recommendations as set forth in the Memoranda from the Chairman and the Alternate Chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 394.41/2-2662. Confidential. Transmitted under cover of a similar memorandum, February 26, from Ball to Secretary Hodges.↩
- The memorandum from the Chairman of the TAC is printed as Document 244. The memorandum from the Alternate Chairman was not attached.↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates that Ball signed the original.↩