Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXXVIII, International Economic Development; International Debt; Foreign Assistance

95. Memorandum From Norman Bailey of the National Security Council Staff to the Military Assistant to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (Poindexter)¹

Washington, June 22, 1982

SUBJECT

• Global Negotiations at Versailles

You have asked me to comment on the treatment of the Global Negotiations issue at Versailles (Tab I).² Obviously I cannot comment on the processes and procedures used since I was not there. I do know that Marc Leland was displeased with the procedures followed by our illustrious “notetaker,”³ but I cannot exercise any independent judgment on this.

As to the substance, the memo correctly points out that we made important concessions which substantially modified our previous stance on the issue.⁴ It is not clear to me what we got in return for this, other than reinforcing our allies’ already strong belief that we will fold on any issue if they bitch long and loud enough. On the other hand, important safeguards remain, and I can’t see any grave danger, assuming that we don’t give anything further away, of losing anything other than time in an endless series of meaningless meetings. In this regard, I strongly support the appointment of Henry Nau as permanent representative of the U.S. to the Global Negotiations.

For your amusement, Ambassador Loncar of Yugoslavia told Roger Robinson and me yesterday that his country was very concerned that we might actually be taking Global Negotiations seriously and that we must protect the World Bank, the IMF and the GATT at all costs.

1. Source: Reagan Library, Executive Secretariat, NSC Trip File, President’s Trip to Versailles Economic Summit June 4–6, 1982; NLR–755–14–15–3–9. Confidential. Sent for information. Wheeler initialed the top right-hand corner of the memorandum.
2. Tab I, a June 14 memorandum from Nau to Clark, is attached but not printed. Attached to Tab I is Tab A, “Report: Global Negotiations at the Versailles Summit,” which is printed as Document 93.
3. Presumably a reference to Nau.
4. In a July 17 memorandum to Clark on the Versailles Summit, Bailey wrote: “It is quite clear to me that the Versailles Summit was a failure in every important respect. We gave up our position on two important points, exchange rate intervention and global negotiations, and we got absolutely nothing in return.” (Reagan Library, Norman Bailey Files, Chronological File, Chron 06/17/1982–06/20/1982; NLR–25–12–35–3–5)