Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-23

producing countries ana 1Or
I Japan the great issue now. is
this: Can they get from foreign
trade with the United States,
either directly or indirectly. the
dollars which formerly got into
international monetary channels
by way Of American aid?
If they cannot. must they look
to Russia and Red China for a
greater trade volume or is there
sufficient volume among the free
nations without an expanded
American market?
Insofar as United States pol
icy goes, this comes down to
saying that the dgree of CO.
operation, the solidarity Of the
Western front against Soviet
communism will stand in the
long run on the foundation of
the dollars and cents relation
ships Of buying and selling. That
conviction is held in the State
Department from top to bot
tom. It has been reflected from
time to time in President Eisen-
hower's calls for a greater vol
ume of foreign trade.
Congress Holds Key.
Foreign governments realize
that Congress holds the key to
this. What Congress did in the
present session will therefore
have a far-reaching influence
on the plans of allied and friend
ly nations.
In the first year Of his ad-
ministration. Gen. Eisenhower
asked and received from Con-
gress a one-year extension of
the reciprocal trade agreements
program. Looking to the future.
he appointed a special commits
sion headed by industrialist
Clarence Randall to study the
whole problem of foreign trade.
This year, the President took
the commissions majority report
as a basis for recommendations
to Congress aimed at expanding
trade.
House leaders resisted and, in
the end, the President obtained
instead another one-year extern
sion of the trade act. 1t meant
little beyond keeping alive the
principle of reducing tariffs by
getting reciprocal cuts in tariffs
Of other countries. AS a practi-
cal matter. the Presidents au-
thority to make cuts at home
has been practically exhausted
through the conclusion of agree
ments in earlier years.
Customs Action.
The President also obtained q
modified version Of legislation he
had asked for simplif1cation of
United States customs proce-
dures-something that has an
noyed foreign businessmen and
governments for years. But again
Congress wrote in requirements
which the administration re-
garded merely as slowing down
the whole simplification process
Taken in conjunction with the
Presidents recent decision to ap-
prove an increase in the tariff on
imported watches-over the pro-
tests of Switzerland-the record
so far on dropping trade barriers
doesn't look impressive to other
nations.
Some State Department off,
fcials say they are beginning to
detect indications of concern on
the part Of friendly governments
that the administration might be
swinging over to a protectionisl
policy.
More reaSsuring to other coun-
tries which want to send their
products here was the Presi-
dents decision on lead-zinc. On
the day Congress adjourned, he
ruled against an increase in the
tariff on the two metals as
recommended by the Tariff Com
mission. Instead, Gen., Eisen-
hover decided the Government
should buy more domestic lead
and zinc.
The whole trade issue seems
certain, in any event. to grow in
Importance for the United States
in the months ahead.