374. Editorial Note
President Johnson transmitted the multilateral trade agreement concluding the Kennedy Round of trade negotiations with a special message to Congress on November 27, 1967. He stated that the standards governing the U.S. negotiators, namely reciprocity in trade concessions and safeguarding domestic industries vulnerable to trade competition, had been achieved. He outlined the major features of the basic agreement to “illustrate its depth and potential benefits.” He referred to the Report on United States Negotiations, which each member of Congress had already received, summarizing the concessions granted by other countries and the results of special multilateral negotiations in the Kennedy Round and listing the concessions granted by the United States. He said [Page 970] an additional report would soon be transmitted showing the tariff concessions each of the major Kennedy Round participants granted on the principal commodity groups in the negotiations. He stated that he would shortly issue a proclamation making the U.S. tariff reductions effective beginning January 1, 1968 (see Document 375).
He would seek the advice and consent of the Senate to U.S. participation in the World Grains Arrangement, an international agreement “reached in Rome as a consequence of the understanding on grains negotiated in the Kennedy Round.” (The International Grains Arrangement 1967: Wheat Trade Convention and Food Aid Convention was signed by John A. Schnittker on November 8, 1967, and entered into force July 1, 1968; 19 UST 5501) Finally, he stated that he would submit a trade bill to Congress to give effect to the American Selling Price agreement reached in the Kennedy Round, to revise the Adjustment Assistance Program for firms and workers, and to authorize efforts “to make further progress in promoting world trade.”
The full text of President Johnson’s message is printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1967, pages 1133–1135. Five volumes entitled General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade—Legal Instruments Embodying the Results of the 1964–1967 Trade Conference are printed as House Document 184 (90th Congress, 2d session).