The Administration urged Congress today to reject a proposed ban on cotton Imports from Egypt on the grounds that it would hamper U.S. relations with Egypt and endanger peacemaking efforts in the Middle East at a “delicate and promising moment.” Eugene V. Rostow, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, told a Senate Agriculture Subcommittee hearing that a bill passed by the House to ban Egyptian cotton could also delay restoration of U.S. relations with the Arabs and facilitate Communist penetration.
Mr. Rostow said that “such a step would play into the hands of those who are actively seeking to widen the breach between the United States and the Arab world, and indeed to take positions of control in the internal affairs of the UAR, Syria, Algeria and the Yemen.”
The cotton bill now before the Senate would ban Egyptian and Sudanese cotton because those governments, which declared war on Israel last June, severed diplomatic relations with the United States. Domestic producers of cotton had argued that adequate supplies of the commodity were available in the United States. They contended that dollars paid to Egypt helped President Nasser buy new Soviet arms.
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