12th May, 1955
CANBERRA
Accession of Japan to G.A.T.T.
Mr Peterson [1] said that the State Department had instructed U.S.
overseas missions concerned to enquire about the intentions of the Governments to which they were accredited regarding the accession of Japan to G.A.T.T. He explained that the U.S., under the Reciprocal Trade Act, would need to decide by 12th June, 1955.
Mr Shaw explained that the Government had not taken any decision yet on the G.A.T.T. review and it was expected that a decision on the accession of Japan would be deferred until the decision on the review had been taken. He added that it would not be necessary to make a decision on the accession of Japan until August.
Mr Shaw remarked that the Japanese were not at present showing any particular dissatisfaction about the trend of trade between Australia and Japan. We had consciously sought to give Japan greater opportunities to trade with us. Mr Ballentine commented that Japan was hoping that G.A.T.T. members would agree to their accession and that those members which did not apply the G.A.T.T.
might expect further approaches from Japan once the position was clear.
In conclusion Mr Peterson deplored as short-sighted the U.K.
invocation of Article XXXV.
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1 Avery F. Peterson, Counselor at the US Embassy in Canberra. He was accompanied by Second Secretary Douglass K. Ballentine.
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[AA : A462/20, 602, iv]