rangements. The discussions going on for the enlargement of the Common Market, for example, could have the most far-reaching effects upon the trading position of the United States. We feel that it is very important for us to have a legislative position in which the United States can go out and bargain and negotiate and trade with other governments in order to protect our vital trading interests and at the same time that we do so on a nondiscriminatory basis, so that other countries not members of the Common Market and not part of our own market, such as in Latin America and Japan, do find expanding trade opportunities. We feel strongly that, unless we can emphasize two elements in international economic affairs over the period of the immediate future, we shall be in deep trouble. One of them is an expanding economy based upon the growth-economic growth-of the free world, and the other is the liberalization of trade opportunities so that growing economies can be in active trade with each other in order to increase the strength of all. We are under no illusions that there won't be some strenuous debates on these matters in the months ahead. To a certain extent these debates tend to be a little one-sided, because those who have a deep interest in exports-the millions of people whose jobs depend upon exports are not nearly so articulate or so insistent in expressing their views as those who feel themselves in some way endangered by or embarrassed by one or another type of import. But this is going to be in a special sense not just another debate on reciprocal trade. This is going to be a discussion and must be a discussion of how the United States shall relate itself to a transformed world trading situation, and unless we are in a position to protect the interests of the United States in our own trading position, then we could find ourselves under deep embarrassment and find ourselves facing a shrinking rather than an expanding world. REQUEST FOR AN INVESTIGATION OF THE POSSIBLE NEED FOR HIGHER DUTIES ON COTTON IMPORTS: Letter From the President (Kennedy) to the Chairman of the U.S. Tariff Commission (Dorfman), November 21, 1961 28 28 White House press release dated Nov. 21, 1961; the Department of State Bulletin, Dec. 18, 1961, p. 1021. 639. ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE NINETEENTH SESSION OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE, GENEVA, NOVEMBER 13-DECEMBER 9, 1961: Report of the U.S. Delegation, Issued December 11, 1961 29 New procedures for future tariff reductions, special measures to achieve broader access to world markets for agricultural products, and intensified efforts to expand the export earnings of less developed countries were the central topics considered by the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) at their 19th session, which ended in Geneva on December 9. Each of these matters has been the object of intensive study by the Contracting Parties under their Program for the Expansion of Trade. They were further considered at the GATT ministerial meeting on November 2730, and, in accordance with decisions adopted by the ministers, the Contracting Parties approved action programs for intensified efforts to expand world trade. Meeting from November 13 to December 9, contracting parties and governments associated with the GATT called a recess in their regular session so that trade ministers might meet to provide the necessary additional policy guidance for further steps to carry forward the GATT's trade expansion program. 31 The U.S. ministerial representative was George W. Ball, Under Secretary of State.30 Edward Gudeman, Under Secretary of Commerce, was vice chairman of the U.S. ministerial delegation. The chairman of the U.S. delegation to the 19th session was John W. Evans, U.S. Representative on the GATT Council of Representatives. In addition to work related to the ministerial meeting, the Contracting Parties at their 19th session dealt with an extensive agenda of some 60 topics, including such matters as regional economic arrangements, quantitative import restrictions, the application of GATT trading rules to Japan by all contracting parties, and the welcoming of a new nation-Tanganyika-as the 40th contracting party to the GATT.32 Perhaps the most far-reaching actions taken by the Contracting Parties, however, were those directed to ministerial conclusions on the trade problems identified in the work of the Program for the Expansion of Trade and the new tasks arising from these conclusions. The ministers reaffirmed their confidence in the General Agreement as the basis for the trading relationships of their countries and agreed that steps should be taken to increase its effective application in the three fields of action (tariff reduction, trade in agriculture, and trade with the less developed countries) which were submitted to the minis 29 Department of State press release No. 871 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Jan. 1, 1962, pp. 7-9). 30 For the texts of Mr. Ball's statements of Nov. 27 and 28 at the ministerial meeting, see ibid., pp. 3-6. 31 For the text of Mr. Gudeman's statement of Nov. 29 at the ministerial meeting, see ibid., pp. 6-7. * See the table annexed below. ters for their consideration. The ministers adopted four conclusions, together with recommendations for additional action by the Contracting Parties: 38 (1) The multilateral reduction of tariffs on a most-favored-nation basis should be continued, but new techniques should be adopted, suited to the changes that had taken place in world trading relationships. In this connection one of the techniques most prominently mentioned by ministers was some form of across-the-board or linear tariff negotiation. Accordingly, the Contracting Parties established a working party on procedures for tariff reduction, which will meet in the near future to examine new procedures and techniques for the further reduction of tariffs on a most-favored-nation basis. (2) Having expressed great concern over the degree and extent of agricultural protectionism, the ministers requested that the Contracting Parties adopt procedures designed to form the basis for the negotiation of "practical measures for the creation of acceptable conditions of access to world markets for agricultural commodities." The Contracting Parties decided that the work would be coordinated by the GATT Council of Representatives and that a first step would be taken in early February of 1962 with a preliminary examination of possibilities for a solution of the problem of trade in cereal products. The GATT Council is expected to initiate discussion of other commodities at its February meeting. 34 (3) The ministers' discussion of obstacles to the trade of less developed countries reflected widespread concern that the present rate of growth of the export earnings of the less developed countries is not keeping pace with the growth of their foreign exchange requirements and recognition that aid can be no substitute for trade in the financing of economic development. Accordingly the ministers adopted a U.S.sponsored declaration on promotion of the trade of less developed countries. The declaration recognizes the need for a special effort by all governments to expand the export earnings of the less developed countries, particularly through providing improved access to markets, and sets forth certain guiding principles to this end. The ministers further agreed that their governments should observe these principles as fully as possible, with the aim of reducing obstacles to the trade of the less developed countries in the near future. Moreover, in response to an appeal from the less developed countries for some concrete measures of assurance that early progress will be made, the ministers asked the Contracting Parties to draw up specific programs of action for the reduction of trade barriers and to establish procedures for keeping under review the actions taken by individual governments to improve market opportunities for the less developed countries. Besides adopting the declaration on the promotion of trade of less developed countries, the Contracting Parties agreed that preliminary arrangements for future action programs envisaged by the ministers 33 Text in General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: Basic Instruments and Selected Documents, Tenth Supplement (Geneva, 1962), pp. 25-28. 34 Text ibid., pp. 28-32, also the Department of State Bulletin, Jan. 1, 1962, pp. 9-10. would be undertaken at a meeting of the GATT's Committee III prior to February. The Contracting Parties also accepted the conclusion of most of the ministers that the question of duty-free entry for tropical products should be given careful consideration. Finally the ministers considered the situation resulting from the fact that the GATT was not being applied to trade relations between Japan and some of the contracting parties. Some ministers expressed the hope that early action could be taken by the contracting parties concerned to enable Japan to participate fully in the GATT and agreed that such action would greatly add to the effectiveness of the GATT. The United States strongly supported this conclusion. Other noteworthy trade policy matters before the Contracting Parties were regional trading arrangements, including the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and the Latin American Free Trade Area (LAFTA); programs designed to eliminate or significantly reduce quantitative import restrictions still imposed by some contracting parties; reviews of waivers of GATT obligations granted to certain contracting parties, including the United States; an extension of the arrangements for the provisional accession of Switzerland to the GATT; 35 special arrangements to give newly independent states, chiefly of Africa, full opportunity to determine their future relations to the GATT; a review of the progress Yugoslavia has made toward arrangements which would permit her to apply the GATT's rules of trade conduct; 37 a request by the United States that the Contracting Parties consider the special problem of applying the GATT to international trade in television programs; and a new free-trade area established between Sarawak and North Borneo. Decisions were also taken agreeing to the accession to the GATT of Israel and Portugal upon the completion of certain formalities relating to tariff negotiations both countries completed during the 1960-61 GÅTT tariff conference.38 36 In addition to agreeing upon a program of meetings and the GATT budget for 1962,39 the Contracting Parties elected their officers for next year. The new chairman will be W. P. H. Van Oorschot of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The vice chairmen will be J. B. Daramola of Nigeria and J. H. Warren of Canada. Mr. Evans, chairman of the U.S. delegation to the 19th session, was assisted by two vice chairmen, Leonard Weiss, Director, Office of International Trade, Department of State, and William Dale, Director, Bureau of International Programs, Department of Commerce; two congressional advisers, Cecil R. King and Herman T. Schneebeli, House of Representatives; and a special adviser, William E. Dowling, Commissioner, U.S. Tariff Commission. Other members of the U.S. delegation were drawn from the Departments of State, Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and Labor. 35 See General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade: Basic Instruments and Selected Documents, Tenth Supplement, p. 14. See ibid., p. 17. See ibid., pp. 61-68. 39 See ibid., p. 11. 39 See the table appended below. Doc. 639 |