Office of the Historian

283. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Japan1

Washington, August 2, 1965, 5 p.m.

327. Ref: Embtel 301.2 Subject: Wool Textiles. We agree EconMin’s negative response to Nakayama’s suggestion that U.S. provide list of specific wool textiles which U.S. considered problem categories. We do not wish to submit such list, even informally to GOJ at this time.

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Cabinet Textile Advisory Committee is expected to review status of wool textile import problem. We believe no further approaches should be made to GOJ until after Cabinet Committee completes its review and has reached decision on course of action.

For Emb’s own information, we are now trying to obtain breakdown of imports of Japanese woolen and worsted fabrics to determine whether wool-silk blended fabrics account for significant portion of growth in fabric imports from Japan. There may be difficulty in obtaining this data but we will transmit findings as soon as possible.

Rusk
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, INCO–WOOL 17 US–JAPAN. Limited Official Use. Drafted by C.W. Ruser (E/OR/ICD/FTD) on August 2; cleared by Tendler (Commerce), Herbert N. Blackman (Labor), Harald B. Malmgren (STR), all in substance, Wendell W. Woodbury (EA), and Paul K. Stahnke (EA/J), both in draft, and Philip M. Davenport (FTD); and approved by George R. Jacobs (ICD). Repeated to Geneva for GATT.↩
  2. Document 281.↩