Office of the Historian

322. Memorandum From President Kennedy to the Export Control Review Board0

Washington, May 16, 1963.

The Secretary of Commerce has raised two important questions about our present trade with the Soviet Union which I think worth serious high-level examination.

1.

Do we now deal with the Soviet Union on the export of technically advanced machinery and equipment in a manner which adequately protects U.S. interests? Where a national security issue is presented, we of course deny an export license. There are, however, many cases in which no clear security issue arises and yet we know that the Soviets are using American machinery and equipment as a basis for copying our technology. Are we being adequately compensated in these sales?

Is there any method of organizing these transactions which would secure a better quid pro quo than the present method of leaving it to the individual seller to secure the best price he can in the transaction, in the light of the fact the Soviet Union does not ordinarily respect the patent [Page 712] and copyright arrangements on which we rely in our commercial transactions with other nations?

2.
Should we reconsider the whole of our trade with the Soviet Union in the light of trade between Western Europe and the Soviet Union and its European satellites? Considering the character and volume of that trade, would a generally less restrictive policy be more in keeping with the interests of the United States? How much possibility is there for a significant broadening of trade that is consistent with our security interests? Would this possibility be such as to justify a general negotiation on trade and commercial matters with the Soviet Union?
3.
I would like the Export Control Review Board to examine these questions and report its findings to me in ninety days.
John F. Kennedy1
  1. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Subject Series, Trade, East/West. Secret. The Export Control Review Board consisted of the Secretaries of Commerce (Chairman), State, and Defense. Regarding its establishment, see Document 300.↩
  2. Printed from a copy that indicates Kennedy signed the original.↩