§ 23. Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the present state of negotiations over extraterritoriality. the application of the United States Export Administration Act and Cocom in the field of high technology exports.
§ Mr. TebbitI met leading figures in the United States Administration in Washington in February. I took every opportunity to stress our commitment to the denial of strategic technology to potential adversaries; but I made plain our fundamental opposition to any United States attempt to exert its jurisdiction within the United Kingdom.
Since my visit, a high-level official team has repeated these arguments, as has my right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade during his visit last week. I believe the United 177W States must recognise that it is in the interests of the Western Alliance that these controls are exerted by agreement, not by pretence of extraterritorial powers.