EXTENSION OF RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENTS ACT THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1949 UNITED STATES SENATE, The committee met at 10 a. m., pursuant to call, in room 312, Senate Office Building, Senator Walter F. George (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators George (chairman), Connally, Byrd, Johnson, Lucas, Hoey, McGrath, Millikin, Taft, Butler, Brewster, Martin, and Williams. The CHAIRMAN. The committee has before it this morning H. R. 1211, which is an act to extend the authority of the President under section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and for other purposes, which passed the House of Representatives on the 9th of February. (H. R. 1211 is as follows:) [H. R. 1211, 81st Cong., 1st sess.] AN ACT To extend the authority of the President under section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1949." SEC. 2. The Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1948 (Public Law 792, Eightieth Congress) is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. The period during which the President is authorized to enter into foreign trade agreements under section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended and extended, is hereby extended for a further period of three years from June 12. 1948. SEC. 4. Section 350 (a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, is hereby further amended by deleting the following therefrom: "in the present emergency in restoring the American standard of living, in overcoming domestic unemployment and the present economic depression, in increasing the purchasing power of the American public, and". SEC. 5. Section 4 of the Act entitled "An Act to amend the Tariff Act of 1930", approved June 12, 1934, as amended (U. S. C., 1946 edition, title 19, sec. 1354), is hereby amended by striking out the matter following the semicolon and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "and before concluding such agreement the President shall seek information and advice with respect thereto from the United States Tariff Commission, from the Departments of State, Agriculture, and Commerce, from the National Military Establishment, and from such other sources as he may deem appropriate." SEC. 6. Section 350 (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (U. S. C., 1946, title 19, sec. 1351 (b)), is amended by changing the colon to a period, by deleting the proviso, and by adding the following: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preclude the application to any product of Cuba (including products preferentially free of duty) of a rate of duty not higher than the rate applicable to the like products of other foreign countries (except the Philippines), whether or not the application of such rate involves any preferential customs treatment. No rate of duty on products of Cuba shall in any case be decreased by more than 50 1 86697 HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE UNITED STATES SENATE EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H. R. 1211 AN ACT TO EXTEND THE AUTHORITY OF THE PART 1 FEBRUARY 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, AND 23, 1949 Printed for the use of the Committee on Finance UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1949 per centum of the rate of duty, however established, existing on January 1, 1945 (even though temporarily suspended by Act of Congress)." Passed the House of Representatives February 9, 1949. Attest: RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk. The CHAIRMAN. On this matter we have here this morning the Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Mr. Willard L. Thorp. Mr. Thorp, will you please come forward? We are sorry to have delayed you, but I do not think you have been very long delayed. You may proceed, and you may make such statement as you wish to make to the committee on this matter in chief and thereafter you may answer such questions as the committee members wish to propound. STATEMENTS OF WILLARD L. THORP, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, AND WINTHROP G. BROWN, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICY, STATE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C. Mr. THORP. Thank you, sir. My name is Willard L. Thorp. I am Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Department of State. After full hearing before the Ways and Means Committee, the House of Representatives approved H. R. 1211 on February 9, a bill to repeal the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1948 and to continue until June 1951 the authority of the President under the Trade Agreements Act of 1934, as amended. The last Congress reaffirmed the reciprocal-trade-agreement principle by its 1-year extension, and it appears that the general principle is firmly established. The present issue is primarily one of procedure. The President is asking for a return to the procedures which had been developed as the result of experience from 1934 to 1948, rather than a continuation of the procedural limitations established in the 1948 act. Under trade-agreement procedure as it existed up to 1948 the President entered into tariff agreements for the purpose of expanding American foreign trade and improving treatment of our commerce abroad after obtaining the advice of a number of interested executive agencies which functioned together through a committee structure known as the trade-agreements organization. They advised the President as to when negotiations might be undertaken and with what countries. When negotiations were decided upon they afforded full hearing to the public; they gave careful study to all aspects of concessions under consideration and made recommendations to the President; they acted as a steering group in the actual negotiations. As of June 1948 this interdepartmental organization included representatives of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Treasury, State, the National Military Establishment, and the Tariff Commission. Apart from the fact that the 1948 act gave authority for only 1 year, it made three objectionable changes in this procedure. It removed a key participating agency, the Tariff Commission, from the central role in every phase of trade-agreements work which it had |