EUROPE FIRST, THE SHELL IN MAJOR DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCES ON BOTH SIDES OF 
THE ATLANTIC, THE U.S . LAST WEEK CONFRONTED THE NEW, ASSERTIVE 
EUROPE . AT GENEVA, THE U.S . STARTED TO BARGAIN FOR 
ITS FUTURE ECONOMIC RELATIONS WITH THE COMMON MARKET, WHICH IS JUST 
FIVE YEARS OLD AND IS ALREADY THE WORLD'S BIGGEST TRADING BLOC 
. AT OTTAWA, IN RECOGNITION OF ITS ALLIES' NEW STRENGTH, THE 
U.S . INITIATED THE SLOW, PAINFUL PROCESS OF SHARING WITH EUROPE 
CONTROL OF NATO'S NUCLEAR ARMORY . IF NEITHER CONFERENCE PRODUCED DRAMATIC 
RESULTS, BOTH NARROWLY SKIRTED BREAKDOWNS THAT MIGHT HAVE GRAVELY DAMAGED THE 
ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP . NAKED EUROPEANS . DESPITE FRANCE'S AVERSION TO TARIFF-CUTTING, 
U.S . NEGOTIATORS AT GENEVA HOPED TO ACHIEVE FAR-REACHING LIBERALIZATION OF 
WORLD TRADE THROUGH PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S TRADE EXPANSION ACT . SPECIAL ENVOY 
CHRISTIAN HERTER AND HIS 20-MAN DELEGATION WHO WERE DUBBED " ONWARD 
CHRISTIAN'S SOLDIERS " BY THE PRESS CORPS AIMED FOR AN AGREEMENT 
WHEREBY EUROPE AND THE U.S . WOULD MAKE BIG, EQUAL, ACROSS-THE-BOARD 
PERCENTAGE CUTS ON HUGE CATEGORIES OF GOODS . NOTHING DOING, RETORTED 
THE EUROPEANS, WHO POINTED OUT THAT U.S . TARIFFS ARE GENERALLY 
HIGHER THAN EUROPE'S, WHILE THE HIGHEST U.S . TARIFFS COVER FAR 
MORE GOODS (20 PER CENT OF ALL U.S . TARIFFS ARE 
OVER 30 PER CENT V . 1 PER CENT OF EUROPE'S) 
. THUS, PROTESTED EUROCRATS, IF EUROPEAN NATIONS CUT THEIR ALREADY LOWER 
TARIFFS BY THE SAME PERCENTAGE AS THE U.S., THEY WOULD END 
UP " NAKED, " WHILE THE U.S . WOULD STILL BE 
COMPARATIVELY WELL PROTECTED . IN ANY CASE, SHRUGGED EUROPEANS, THE U.S 
. IN 1962 EARNED NEARLY TWICE AS MUCH ($4.4 BILLION) IN 
THE COMMON MARKET AS IT BOUGHT FROM THE SIX . SO 
WHY MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR THE AMERICANS ? INSIDE THE EGG 
. THE TALKS ACTUALLY HAD BROKEN DOWN, WHEN WEST GERMANY'S LUDWIG 
ERHARD DEVISED THE LAST-DITCH COMPROMISE THAT PROVED ACCEPTABLE TO JOHN F 
. KENNEDY . IT CALLS FOR BOTH SIDES TO MAKE EQUAL, 
ACROSS-THE-BOARD PERCENTAGE REDUCTIONS, AS PROPOSED BY THE U.S . THOUGH THEY 
WILL PROBABLY FALL FAR SHORT OF THE IDEAL 50 PER CENT 
ENVISAGED BY WASHINGTON . IN RETURN, THE U.S . AGREED IN 
PRINCIPLE TO MAKE DRASTIC CUTS IN THE HIGHEST TARIFF CATEGORIES . 
SINCE THE FINE PRINT WILL NOT ACTUALLY BE NEGOTIATED UNTIL MAY 
1964, SOME U.S . AND BRITISH OFFICIALS WERE FEARFUL, AS ONE 
PUT IT, THAT " FRANCE HAS ONLY MOVED HER ROADBLOCK DOWN 
THE ROAD . " CONCLUDED ERHARD : " WE ARE AGREED 
ON THE SHELL OF AN EGG . WHAT WILL BE IN 
THE EGG, WE DO NOT KNOW . " AT OTTAWA EVERYONE 
KNEW WHAT WAS IN THE EGG, BUT NO ONE KNEW WHAT 
TO CALL IT . WELL IN ADVANCE OF LAST WEEK'S SEMIANNUAL 
NATO COUNCIL MEETING, THE U.S . AND ITS ALLIES HAD AGREED 
ON A NEW ADDITION TO NATO'S ALPHABETICAL ARMORY : IANF, MEANING 
INTERALLIED NUCLEAR FORCE . A LIMITED FIRST STEP TOWARD GIVING NATO 
ITS OWN NUCLEAR DETERRENT, IANF NOW CONSISTS MAINLY OF 180 BRITISH 
V-BOMBERS AND THREE MEDITERRANEAN-BASED U.S . POLARIS SUBMARINES THAT THE TWO 
NATIONS WILL TURN OVER TO NATO COMMAND . WHILE IT ALSO 
INCLUDES 60 FRENCH TACTICAL BOMBERS, FOR WHICH THE U.S . CONTROLS 
THE NUCLEAR WARHEADS, THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT HINTED THAT IT MIGHT WITHDRAW 
THEM IF IANF WERE MADE TO SEEM BIGGER AND MORE POWERFUL 
AS IT IS THAN FRANCE'S VAUNTED FORCE DE FRAPPE . THUS 
THE ALLIES AGREED THAT IF FRANCE AGREED NOT TO MAKE ANY 
SCENES AT OTTAWA, IANF WOULD BE NAMELESS IT SOON BECAME KNOWN 
AS THAT THING BY ANY NAME, THE NEW FORCE IS INTENDED 
TO GIVE THE NATO ALLIES A GREATER SENSE OF PARTICIPATION IN 
NUCLEAR STRATEGY, BUT WILL DO LITTLE TO INCREASE THEIR ACTUAL ROLE 
IN THE DEFENSE OF EUROPE . A MORE SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT, IN 
THE U.S . VIEW, WOULD BE FORMATION OF A MULTILATERAL FORCE 
(MLF), COMPRISING SOME 20 POLARIS-FIRING SURFACE VESSELS THAT WOULD BE JOINTLY 
OWNED, CREWED AND PAID FOR BY THE PARTICIPATING ALLIES . ITS 
MAIN PURPOSE, OF COURSE, WOULD BE TO ACCOMMODATE WEST GERMANY'S EAGERNESS 
FOR A NUCLEAR ROLE COMMENSURATE WITH ITS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL POWER 
. BUT THE U.S . WILL HAVE TO YIELD FAR MORE 
IF IT IS TO MEET ITS ALLIES' DEMANDS FOR CONTROL OF 
THEIR OWN NUCLEAR DEFENSE . IN OTTAWA, AS AT GENEVA, THE 
DIALOGUE HAD BARELY BEGUN 