Evening star., 1948-04-26
1t Must Be Renewed

There are more than few Republicans
in Congress-especially in the Housewife
would like to do away with the Reciprocal
Trade Agreements Act either by refusing
to renew it or by amending it to death.
Their threat is an extremely serious one.
If they have their way If the wiser heads
in their party do not prevail, the roper
cussions will be worldwide, and our
friends abroad will have good reason to
wonder whether our right hand knows
what our left is doing in the conduct of
foreign policy.
For the Reciprocal Trade Agreements
Congress renews it-has been a key part
of our dealings with other nations for the
past fourteen years. Its fundamental pur-
pose has been to promote freer flow of
world commerce, to eliminate retaliatory
tariff walls, and to serve peace by stimu-
lating mutually enriching international
exchange Of goods on a fair quid- -pro-quo
basis. In short, it has been an integral
part of our foreign policy-an indispen-
sable economic support to the political
aspects of that policy
Indeed, with our reciprocity program,
we have given the economic lead to all
nations. Thus as far as the postwar era
is concerned, we have preached the prin-
ciples of that program in taking the
initiative to establish the World Bank and
the World Monetary Fund. We have
preached them, too, in connection with our
successful effort last year to get 20 govern
nenfS tn ioir, with in, ho h{cto od
far-reaching Geneva tariff agreement, and
they constitute the animating spirit of
the 53-nation Charter of the International
Trade Organization recently negotiated at
Havana. Above all-and this is of very
great mportance-they have been written
into the legislation enacted by Congress
for the European Recovery Program, under
which the sixteen participating countries
are expected to pledge themselves to re-
goods among themselves.
In such circumstances, If Congress failed
to renew the reciprocity program, it would
be telling the world, in effect, that we do
not believe In practicing the good things
we have preached. Worse..by thus COM
mitting supreme act of inconsistency
and backtracking, it would be spreading
confusion among all our friends abroad
upsetting the operations Of the ERP, and
planting the impression everywhere OF an
American drift back to the days of high
protectionism. In other words, despite our
political internationalism, our economic
role would take on a distinct isolationist
slant, with the result that our overall
foreign policy would seem to be at war
with itself.
But it is not only for reasons of this
sort that the Trade Agreements Act should
be renewed without Gripping amendments.
In the modern world such an act is essen
tial. Without 1t there can only be tariff
wars in which everybody will ultimately
be the loser. From the standpoint of our
own self-intereSt, strictly in terms OF
dollars and cents, We need reciprocity for
the sake of American markets abroad II
we do not have it, If our overseas customers
run up against high protectionism here,
then they will not be able to sell enough
to us to acquire the money they must have
to buy from us. And that is the kind of
process that leads to factory shutdowns
and deep economic depression.
Accordingly, looked at in any light,
either as an instrument of foreign policy
or as an instrument to promote our own
prosperity, the reciprocal trade program
which includes escape clauses guarding
against serious injury to our domestic
producers must be renewed substantially
in its present form. If it is killed off or
allowed to fall apart, the responsibility
for the consequences will rest preponder-
antly on the Republicans. The conse-
quences could be very grave To invite
them would be to take a reckless gamble
with the best interests of the Nation.