Office of the Historian

77. Telegram From the Department of State to the Mission to the European Communities0

Washington, June 12, 1963, 2:09 p.m.

Busec 544. From Herter to Tuthill. To set the proper atmosphere for the poultry negotiations, I believe it would be useful if you could make clear to Mansholt (and probably also to Rey) that our primary objective in negotiations opening Geneva June 20 is to obtain reasonable access for US poultry exports to the EEC. If this is not possible, public pressure and the obligations of my office would leave me no alternative but to proceed with the necessary steps to redress the loss we have suffered as a result of the Community actions on poultry. The restoration of the US position in poultry trade is clearly still the best solution but recent developments have left little confidence here in the good-will of the Community as a whole. I appreciate, however, the Commission’s recent efforts to establish a more equitable situation and hope it will continue to play a [Page 202] constructive role, seeking to use its negotiating powers to achieve with our negotiators a mutually acceptable solution. It is obvious that a satisfactory poultry solution would go a long way toward improving relations between the US and EEC.

Any information which you or your staff can secure regarding the likely attitude of the Community in the poultry negotiations would, of course, be most welcome. For our part, in pursuing our objective of access for US poultry, we would be prepared to consider any reasonable proposals which may be suggested.

You should also convey my view that if progress is to be made at Geneva, it is essential that the Commission representatives have adequate mandate ad referendum to Council to negotiate seriously. In this connection, Blumenthal will also be prepared elaborate on our thinking to Commissioners in Brussels June 20. Accordingly, it would be desirable for Commission negotiators in Geneva to have flexibility to move ahead rapidly thereafter.1

Rusk
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, INCO Poultry EEC. Limited Official Use. Drafted in E/OT and RPE and cleared with Vine, E, and STR.↩
  2. On June 13 Tuthill reported that he had carried out these instructions and that Rey was sympathetic to the U.S. position, but the Agriculture Committee of the Common Market was not entirely sympathetic. (Ecbus 1451 from Brussels; ibid.)↩