Proclamation 2959—Allocating Tariff Quota on Certain Petroleum Products Under the Venezuealan Trade Agreement

1. Whereas on December 29, 1950, I proclaimed such allocation among countries of production of the quantity of crude petroleum, topped crude petroleum, and fuel oil derived from petroleum, including fuel oil known as gas oil, entitled to a reduction in the rate of import tax during the calendar year 1951 not in excess of the annual amount equal to 5 per centum of the total quantity of crude petroleum processed in refineries in the continental United States during the preceding year as would be required or appropriate to carry out (1) the definitive trade agreement with Venezuela entered into on November 6, 1939 (54 Stat. 2377), particularly Article VII and Item 3422 of Schedule II thereof, and (2) the trade agreement entered into on October 30, 1947 consisting in part of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (61 Stat. (Parts 5 and 6) A7, A11, and A2051), particularly Article XIII thereof;

2. Whereas under the terms of said proclamation of December 29, 1950 the aggregate quantity of crude petroleum, topped crude petroleum, and fuel oil derived from petroleum, including fuel oil known as gas oil, entitled to a reduction in the rate of import tax during the calendar year 1951 up to not in excess of an annual amount equal to 5 per centum of the total quantity of crude petroleum processed in refineries in continental United States during the preceding year was allocated among countries of export on the basis of the proportions of the total imports for consumption in the United States of America supplied during the calendar years 1946 through 1949, which years were representative of the trade in such products;

3. Whereas the proportions of total imports into the United States of America of such petroleum and fuel oil supplied by countries of export during the years 1946 through 1949 were as follows:

Per centum

Venezuela..............59.4

Kingdom of the Netherlands (including its Overseas territories)................18.7

Other foreign countries..............21.9

4. Whereas Venezuela has requested the allocation among the countries of export of the quantity of such petroleum and fuel oil entitled to a reduction in duty by virtue of the said Item 3422 of Schedule II annexed to the said definitive trade agreement with Venezuela and that the representative period specified in recital 2 hereof be retained for the calendar year 1952;

5. Whereas I find that, taking into account special factors affecting the trade, imports into the United States of America from all countries of such petroleum and fuel oil during the years 1946 through 1949 as specified in recitals 2 and 3 hereof are representative of the trade in such products:

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the Untied States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, including section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, do proclaim that, of the total aggregate quantity of crude petroleum, topped crude petroleum, and fuel oil derived from petroleum, including fuel oil known as gas oil, entitled, during the calendar year 1952, to a reduction in the rate of import tax by virtue of the said Item 3422 of Schedule II of the said definitive trade agreement with Venezuela, no more than 59.4 per centum shall be the produce or manufacture of the United States of Venezuela, nor more than 18.7 per centum the produce or manufacture of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (including its overseas territories), nor more than 21.9 per centum the produce or manufacture of other foreign countries.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this fifth day of January in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-seventh.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

DEAN ACHESON,

Secretary of State.