Diario las Américas., 1958-02-22
EDITORIAL
THE RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENTS ACT

Last Monday, the Secretary of Commerce, Mr.. Sinclair
Weeks, appeared before the House Ways and Means Com
mittee to recommend a ffVeyear extension of the Reciprocal
Trade Agreements Act which is to expire next June 30.
1t is no secret to anyone that there exists in this cOun.
try a prOtectiOniSt tendency which had its inception in
the times when the United States was beginning to grow.
in economic self Sufficiency, depending upon itself, sell
ling its products to itself, and Subiecting those produced
abroad to import limitations and restrictions. When in.
naturalization began, it was necessary to find an outlet
and market abroad for those national products. Who was
to buy them? Well, simply those who could sell their
goods or raw materials in the United States.
Foreign trade is a twO-way street. Latin America,
particularly, can only buy products in the United States
when she has enough dollars 10 permit the purchase; and
she cannot acquire those dollars unless she sells her raw
materials in the United States. us. foreign trade with
Latin America is at present of first magnitude. Suffice
it to know that just one country, Venezuela, has purchased
in one single year some billion dollars worth of us. goods
merely because she had the dollar exchange received from
its exports of oil to this country. On the other hand,
Mexico, who would be affected, together with Peru and
others, by a reduction of her exports of lead, zinc, and tuna
to the United States, is, according to statistics, an 1mpOr'
tant customer of this country.
The problem would be very simple, were it not for
domestic political questions which become important at
election time. When a fO%reignmade item is sold in this
country at an equal or lower price than a similar U.S-made
one, domestic producers demand from the Government
import duties or quotas, and will favor with their votes
those who promise a prOtectionist policy. But, should
such a prOtectiOniSt policy be enforced, where Will the
products in excess of domestic requirements be sold If
potential purchasers find themselves obliged to sell their
own products in other countries and those other countries,
logically, will demand that they buy from them?
But there is more, there are reasons of high national
interest for the United States to continue with a healthy
policy of expansion of its foreign trade. Nothing hurts
foreign relations between two countries more than Geo.
nOmic blows. Canada, for example, is reSentful OF some
measures taken by the United States which injure her
commerce. Now, no one can deny that Canada is today
of utmost Importance, of life and death Importance, one
might say, to the defense of the United States, Should
the us. Congress attend, in first place, to certain local
reasons, however important they may be, before consider
ing those of supreme national interest as are good relations
with friendly nations which, at a given moment, may be
the bulwarks Of national defense? We have mentioned
Canada, but the same applies to Great Britain, West
Germany, Japan, Italy, or Switzerland.
It is no longer possible to live in an isolated world.
Even the Soviet Union, seeking to impose her imperialism,
will first try infiltratiOn through economic relations. Her
recent purchases of Cuban sugar, her contemplated pur-
chaSeS of Colombian coffee and wool from Uruguay, are
symptoms that the Soviet Union has been planning a large
scale program of attraction of the Latin American cOun-
tries, buying products from them which, otherwise, appear
to be in danger of restrictions on the part OF the US.
Congress. And a Latin American country must sell its
products to the Soviet Union, if it can find no market
for them elsewhere in the free world.
The Administrations, Democrat or Republican, have
made it a fundamental point of policy to obtain the extern
sion of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act and we
would offer them our approval and support. III DefallS
the Congress to understand the difficult situation in which
a country finds itself when 1t has become a great power
and must look toward the world, somewhat above local
reasons, i'm order to live and endure. The us. Congress
has a big responsibility in this matter. To maintain
foreign trade, as requested by the Administration, is today
an unbelievable signal of a sane us. foreign policy. The
Administration, on the other hand, can rely on diStn-
guiShed members of Congress who are cogniZant of the
problem and have shown signs of great vision concerning
the future and responsibility of this great nation which
Is known throughout the world as the United States Of
America.