I have the honor to advise you of receipt of instructions from my
Government to deliver to the Commonwealth Government the following
communication:

'The Government of the United States refers to the document
"Proposals for Expansion of World Trade and Employment" [1] and to
the proposal of the Government of the United States that the
United Nations Organization convene in the middle of 1946 a
conference on Trade and Employment to consider and take action to
realize the objectives referred to in that document.

It is the view of the Government of the United States that the
success of the proposed conference can best be realized if there
is thoroughgoing preparation for it; and that such preparation
should include concrete plans, which the principal trading nations
of the world would be prepared to adopt, for the actual reduction
of tariffs and other trade barriers, and the elimination of
discriminatory trade treatment, in accordance with the objectives
agreed upon in the exchange of notes dated September 3, 1942
between the Governments of Australia and the United States. [2]

The Government of the United States, therefore, has the honor to
ask the Australian Government whether it would be prepared to
appoint representatives to attend a preliminary meeting in March
or April of 1946, to be held at a place to be determined. It would
be the purpose of the meeting, which would be attended by the
other governments accepting invitations, to:

(a) Negotiate, for the consideration of the proposed conference,
concrete arrangements for the relaxation of tariffs and trade
barriers of all kinds which would command the support of
governments attending the conference; and
(b) To consult, and to reach such preliminary understandings as
may be practicable with regard to other topics on the proposed
agenda for the conference referred to above.

In order that the representatives of the United States may make a
practical contribution to the work of the preliminary meeting, it
will be necessary for the Government of the United States, under
the procedure required by the Trade Agreements Act, to issue
public notice of intention to negotiate for the reduction of
tariffs and other trade barriers with the governments intending to
participate in that meeting. In view of the public hearings and
other procedures required by law this notice should be issued at
least three months prior to the beginning of definitive
international discussions by the representatives of the United
States. Accordingly, the Government of the United States hopes to
be able to issue by the end of this year or early in 1946 a public
notice of intention to negotiate with Australia. In order to make
this possible it is urged that the Australian Government indicate
prior to December 31, 1945 whether it will participate in the
preliminary meeting.

In accordance with customary practice, the proposed public notice
will be accompanied by a list of the products which will be
considered for the granting of trade concessions to Australia and
on which public hearings will be held. The list will include those
products of which Australia has been or is likely to become a
principal supplier to the United States.

This invitation is also being sent to the following governments:

Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France,
India, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, United
Kingdom and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.' [3]

JOHN R. MINTER

Attachment

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND EMPLOYMENT EXPLANATORY
OUTLINE

A. At the preliminary meeting early in 1946 to be attended by the
United States and by such of the other fifteen countries receiving
invitations which have accepted the invitation each country would
present a schedule of the tariff concessions which it would be
prepared to grant in an agreement with the other countries
attending the meeting, such an agreement also to contain mutually
acceptable provisions dealing with tariff preferences and non-
tariff trade barriers. Each country should also be prepared to
make requests of the tariff concessions which it desires to
receive from each of the other countries attending the meeting.

B. The tariff concessions in the schedule proposed by each country
would be offered to all the other countries as a group. Each
country would thus obtain in its own right all of the concessions
made by each of the other countries.

C. With regard to non-tariff trade barriers, there would be
included in the draft agreement provisions, uniformly applicable
to the trade of all participants, giving effect to the objectives
as to non-tariff trade barriers which are set forth in Chapter
Three of the 'Proposals for Expansion of World Trade and
Employment', (e.g. elimination of exchange controls, regulation of
subsidies, abolition of quotas, etcetera).

D. These discussions would also afford opportunity for
consultation among the countries participating in the meeting
regarding all other elements in the proposals (i.e. questions of
employment, policy regarding 'surplus' commodities, cartel policy,
and an international trade organization).

E. The tentative agreement among the countries participating in
the preliminary meeting (excluding the tariff schedules) would be
subject to change at the general international conference in the
light of the considerations advanced by other countries.

F. The general conference would also consider the questions of
adherence to the draft agreement reached at the preliminary
meeting and the treatment to be accorded by countries which accept
the agreement to the trade of those which do not accept it and of
any countries not invited to participate in the general
conference. The drafting countries, i.e. those participating in
the preliminary meeting, should propose at the conference that
non-drafting countries be considered as provisionally adhering to
the agreement upon acceptance of (a) the non-tariff provisions and
(b) a commitment to undertake bilateral tariff negotiations with
the other countries adhering to the agreement. Countries
considered as adhering provisionally before they have completed
such tariff negotiations should be required to give adequate
tariff concessions in return for benefits which they receive as a
result of other tariff negotiations already concluded. The
drafting countries should also propose that, subject to exceptions
for particular countries recommended by the proposed Internation
Trade Organization, the benefits of the agreement should, after a
reasonable period of time, be withheld from the trade of those
countries which failed to adhere to it, and that the tariff
concessions should similarly be withheld from the trade of
countries which, having adhered, failed to negotiate tariff
reductions judged by the Internation Trade Organization to be in
conformity with the spirit of the agreement. Drafting countries
and provisionally adhering countries should retain full liberty of
action to determine whether to extend most-favored-nation
treatment to the trade of countries not invited to participate in
the conference and not immediately eligible to adhere to the
convention. Decision in such cases would presumably be influenced
by the adequacy of arrangements made by drafting countries in
liberalizing their trade more or less pari passu with the action
taken by adhering countries. Findings and reports of the proposed
Internation Trade Organization regarding the trade and commercial
policies of non-adhering countries might assist adhering countries
in reaching such decisions.

G. Upon the close of the conference the agreement would be brought
into force among the drafting countries and other countries as
would join, in accordance with their own constitutional
procedures.