International Trade Files, Lot 57D284, Box 108
Department of State Press Release No. 766 Issued at Washington September 22, 1948
The second session of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which opened in Geneva on August 16, completed its work on September 14. It has laid plans designed to increase further the value of the Agreement to the countries already parties, including the United States, and to enable more countries to become parties.
Under the General Agreement itself, negotiated in 1947 by the United States and twenty-two other countries, each country agrees to certain general rules for the conduct of its international trade and grants to all the others a schedule of specific concessions in its tariff treatment of imports, including reductions in tariffs, bindings of moderate rates or of free treatment, reductions or eliminations of preferences, and the like. These concessions cover about one-half of total world trade.
[Page 940]Accession of new countries
The major accomplishment of the meeting just ended is adoption of procedures for bringing additional countries into the Agreement as rapidly as possible through tariff negotiations with them. On inquiry by the contracting parties it was found that several countries not yet parties are definitely interested in early accession. A timetable was accordingly adopted for negotiations with them. Requests for concessions are to be exchanged between the present parties and the new countries and also among the new countries by January 15, 1949. Definitive negotiations are scheduled to open at Geneva on April 11, 1949. The new countries which will negotiate are: Denmark, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Finland, Greece, Haiti, Italy, Nicaragua, Peru, Sweden, and Uruguay.
So far as the United States is concerned, negotiations will be conducted under the usual trade-agreement procedure as recently amended by the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1948. The customary notice of intention to negotiate, accompanied by announcement of products to be considered for possible concession by this country, will be made as soon as the necessary preparatory work is completed by the interdepartmental trade-agreements organization.
Other Tariff Negotiations
Except in certain special cases there will be no reopening of negotiations among the countries which are already parties to the Agreement. However, Brazil was granted temporary permission to establish rates on three items which are higher than otherwise permitted under the General Agreement, in consideration of the fact that the Brazilian Congress has applied rates on a number of other items which are lower than the maximum permitted by the Agreement. Within 60 days the interested countries are to negotiate a definitive adjustment of the concessions involved. Ceylon and Pakistan were also authorized to renegotiate certain concessions which each had granted to other countries. Cuba was granted permission to renegotiate with the United States the rates of duty on six items which Cuba is finding it difficult to apply as originally negotiated, the understanding being that the United States is to receive full compensation for any modifications agreed to. These adjustments are to be worked out bilaterally subject to final action at the time of the negotiations next spring. Any other negotiations among countries already parties to the Agreement are likely to be in the nature of completion of work which it was not possible to finish at the 1947 conference, none of it involving the United States.
[Page 941]Most-favored-nation treatment for western Germany
One of the most important achievements of the conference was agreement by a substantial number of countries to extend to western Germany most-favored-nation treatment with respect to merchandise trade on a reciprocal basis. This undertaking is incorporated in a separate document, not a part of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and was opened for signature on September 14. So far nine countries have signed, and it is expected that most of the remaining countries represented at the meeting will sign in the near future.
Modification of General Agreement
Some changes were also made in the Agreement which it was felt by the contracting parties were an improvement over the original text. These changes were based largely on work done at the Havana Trade Conference subsequent to the conclusion of the General Agreement.
In addition, Chile was accorded an extension of time, to February 17, 1949, in which to become a contracting party to the Agreement even though, after negotiating concessions at Geneva, Chile did not put the Agreement provisionally into effect by June 30, 1948, the time originally set.
Arrangements were made under which the United States will be free to accord preferences to imports from the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Though technically this constitutes establishment of a new preference, it will permit the working out of a trading arrangement which will promote the advancement of the peoples of the trust territory consistent with the United States’ obligations under this country’s Trusteeship Agreement with the Security Council of the United Nations.
Cuban-American Trade
During the session just ended, the United States submitted to the contracting parties under Article XXIII of the General Agreement a problem arising out of an import licensing system applied by Cuba with respect to a wide range of products, including raw cotton and cotton, rayon and wool fabrics and wearing apparel. Cuba’s action had the effect of preventing the importation of these products from the United States and other countries, thus nullifying in considerable part the benefits granted by Cuba in the General Agreement. The contracting parties recommended that Cuba promptly take steps to relieve the immediate difficulties and to consult with repersentatives of the United States Government at Havana with a view to finding a mutually satisfactory solution of the problems that have arisen in connection with the Cuban import controls under Cuban Resolution [Page 942] 530. On September 14 the Cuban Government issued a resolution removing the restrictions on the importation of all products except piece-goods remnants and waste other than industrial. The restrictions on the importation of these products will be discussed between the Cuban Government and the United States Embassy at Havana.