Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-01-14
Trade Agreements

Inc reciprocal Trade Agreement
Act, the sole contribution of the
Roosevelt administration to tariff
legislation, must be re-enacted by
next June or else it will perish.
There have been rumblings about
the fight which will be made, In
curry rather indicates that the Re
publlcans, who voted against the
bill by which the life of the act was
once before extended, will inquire
carefully into the whole question
before undertaking to make this a
party issue in Congress.
The Trade Agreement Act was put
through in an effort to get away
from the impossibly high tariff walls
set up under the Smoot- Hawley
Tariff Act. 1t had the hearty sup
port Of Secretary of State Cordell
Hull, who is firmly convinced that
steps must be taken to keep open as
far as possible the doors to interna-
tlonal trade, 1t was designed to i'm
prove relations between the United
States and other nationS-some of
which had reacted harshly against
the tariff laws of this country. And
1t did.
AS of today, this country has en-
tered into thirty reciprocal trade
agreements with Is countries, among
them Britain and a number of the
integral parts of the British Empire.
No such trade agreements were ever
entered into between this country
and Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan,
the present Axis powers. Under
present war conditions there are no
public records Of the amount of in
ternational trade done under the
reciprocal trade agreements The
percentage of trade which comes
under these agreements. however,
must be very large. In 1887 it was
IS per cent of the total foreign trade
of the United States, and in 1899, it
had increased to So per cent. To
indicate still further the Importance
of this trade with the other agree
ment" countries it is estimated that
60 per cent of the total world trade
came within the framework of these
trade agreements.
Under the authority granted him
by the reciprocal trade agreement
law the President is authorized to
enter into these pacts with foreign
nations, and to lower or increase
tariff duties by not more than so per
cent of the duties set in the tariff
act These agreements do not re-
uuire ratification by Congress in any
way Prior to the ENACTMENT Of
the Reciprocal Trade Agreement
Act, there existed the so-called
flexible tariff act, which also au-
thorized the President to lower or
raise tariff duties by so per cent,
after thorough investigation by the
United States Tariff Commission. In
theory this was all right. In prac-
tice it did not get far. There was no
provision for international agree
mentS, and it dealt with tariff rates
on individual items.
To kill this Reciprocal Trade Agree
ment Act would be sad commentary
on the probable attitude Of this
country toward other nations after
the war. The immediate effect would
be to prevent the negotiation re-
newal or amendment Of such agree
ments. Existing agreements would
continue in effect for the full period
for which they were negotiated
usually a three-year period, though
some are for less, and if not de-
nounced by either party, they would
continue indefinitely.
In the opinion of many, failure
to renew the Act would be disastrous
a poor start, indeed, on the improve
ment Of international relations after
the war is over.