Developing a “European Strategy”: business groups and the EEC trade policy-making in the Kennedy Round

In May 1967, the delegations were engaged in the last phase of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, the Kennedy Round, in Geneva. The European Economic Community (EEC) – represented by the European Commission – and the other GATT members were frantically bargaining over the last crucial tariff concessions. The negotiations concerning the chemical sector were particularly thorny. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was attempting to stretch the negotiations out until the very end in order to obtain greater concessions from the United States. While the ministry pursued its strategy, Pierre Millet, the President of the French Union des Industries Chimiques (UIC), the French chemical industry association, was in constant direct contact with the Commission, which was negotiating on behalf of the EEC member states. He expressed his support for a quick resolution to the outstanding issues and informed the Commission of the changing position of the French ministry. At the same time, Millet sent detailed reports to the French ministry on the state of the negotiations in Brussels and Geneva, showing that he was better informed than the Quai d’Orsay. The French foreign ministry expressed its irritation over Millet’s bilateral contacts, as they appeared to weaken the official French bargaining position. It complained about the situation, for which it blamed the Commission, and demanded that Millet keep out of the negotiations – to no avail, however