Proclamation 3191—Carrying out Supplementary Agreements Granting Concessions to Compensate for Escape Clause Action on Certain Toweling

1. Whereas, pursuant to the authority vested in him by the Constitution and the statutes, including section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as then amended (48 Stat. (pt. 1) 943, ch. 474, 57 Stat. (pt. 1) 125, ch. 118, 59 Stat. (pt. 1) 410, ch. 269), the President on October 30, 1947, entered into a trade agreement with certain foreign countries, which trade agreement consists of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter referred to as "the General Agreement"), including a Schedule of United States Concessions (hereinafter referred to as "Schedule XX (Geneva-1947) "), and the Protocol of Provisional Application of the General Agreement, together with a Final Act (61 Stat. (pts. 5 and 6) A7, All, and A2051);

2. Whereas by Proclamation No. 2761A of December 16, 1947 (61 Stat. (pt. 2) 1103), the President proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States of America as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation on and after January 1, 1948, which proclamation has been supplemented by the other proclamations listed in the third recital of Proclamation No. 3140 of June 13, 1956 (3 CFR, 1956 Supp., p. 24), by the said proclamation of June 13, 1956, by Proclamation No. 3143 of June 25, 1956 (3 CFR, 1956 Supp., p. 33), by Proclamation No. 3146, of June 29, 1956 (3 CFR, 1956 Supp., p. 35), by Proclamation No. 3160 of September 28, 1956 (3 CFR, 1956 Supp., p. 44), by Proclamation No. 3184 of May 16, 1957 (22 F. R. 3531), and by Proclamation No. 3190 of June 28, 1957 (22 F. R. 4705);

3. Whereas, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in him by the said section 350, as now amended (48 Stat. (pt. 1) 943, ch. 474, 57 Stat. (pt. 1) 125, ch. 118, 59 Stat. (pt. 1) 410, ch. 269, 63 Stat. (pt. 1) 698, ch. 585, 69 Stat. 162, ch. 169), and by section 7 (c) of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951 (65 Stat. 74, ch. 141), and in accordance with Article XIX of the General Agreement, the President, by the said proclamation of June 25, 1956, proclaimed the withdrawal of the duty concession granted by the United States with respect to certain products (toweling of flax, hemp, or ramie) described in item 1010 in Part I of Schedule XX (Geneva-1947), effective after the close of business July 25, 1956;

4. Whereas the said Article XIX of the General Agreement provides for consultation with those other contracting parties, having a substantial interest as exporters of products with respect to which action has been taken under that Article, with a view to agreement being reached among all interested contracting parties;

5. Whereas I have found as a fact that, under the circumstances recited above, existing duties or other import restrictions of the United States of America, or of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which last three countries are the contracting parties to the General Agreement having a substantial interest as exporters, are unduly burdening and restricting the foreign trade of the United States of America;

6. Whereas, pursuant to section 3 (a) of the said Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951 (65 Stat. 72, ch. 141), I transmitted to the United States Tariff Commission for investigation and report a list of all articles imported into the United States of America to be considered for possible modification of duties and other import restrictions, imposition of additional import restrictions, or continuance of existing customs or excise treatment in the trade agreement negotiations with the governments of the foreign countries referred to in the fifth recital of this proclamation, and the Tariff Commission made an investigation in accordance with section 3 of the said Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951 and thereafter reported to me its determinations made pursuant to the said section within the time period specified therein;

7. Whereas reasonable public notice of the intention to conduct trade agreement negotiations with the foreign countries specified in the fifth recital of this proclamation was given, the views presented by persons interested in such negotiations were received and considered, and information and advice with respect to such negotiations was sought and obtained from the Departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense, and from other sources;

8. Whereas, the period for the exercise of the authority of the President to enter into foreign trade agreements under the said section 350, as now amended, having been extended by section 2 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1955 (69 Stat. 162, ch. 169) from June 12, 1955, until the close of June 30, 1958, as a result of the findings set forth in the fifth recital of this proclamation and for the purpose of restoring the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions in the General Agreement by the addition thereto of further concessions, I entered into the following two trade agreements, each through my duly authorized representative, copies of both of which agreements are annexed to this proclamation: 1 (a) on June 27, 1957, a trade agreement consisting of the Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the United States of America supplementary to the General Agreement, dated June 27, 1957, including a schedule, which trade agreement is authentic in the English and French languages as indicated therein, and (b) on June 27, 1957, a trade agreement consisting of the Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America supplementary to the General Agreement, dated June 27, 1957, including a schedule, which trade agreement is authentic in the English language;

9. Whereas the agreements supplementary to the General Agreement, specified in the eighth recital of this proclamation, both provide that the treatment provided for in the schedules annexed thereto shall be applied by the United States of America on and after June 29, 1957;

10. Whereas in the case of any modification of an existing duty proclaimed in this proclamation which reflects a decrease in duty exceeding the limitation specified in subsection (a) (2) (D) or (a) (3) (B) of the said section 350, as now amended, I have made the determinations provided for in subsection (a) (3) (D) of that section that such decreases will simplify the computation of the amount of duty imposed with respect to the articles concerned; and

11. Whereas I find that the compensatory modifications provided for in the trade agreements supplementary to the General Agreement, specified in the eighth recital of this proclamation, constitute appropriate action toward maintaining the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions in the General Agreement, that the purpose set forth in the said section 350, as now amended, will be promoted by such compensatory modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions and continuance of existing customs or excise treatment as are set forth and provided for in the said supplementary agreements, and that such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles as are hereinafter proclaimed in this proclamation will be required or appropriate, on and after the dates hereinafter specified, to carry out the said trade agreements supplementary to the General Agreement:

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350, as now amended, to the end that the General Agreement and the trade agreements supplementary to the General Agreement, specified in the eighth recital of this proclamation may be carried out, do proclaim that such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States as are specified and provided for in the said trade agreements, including the schedules annexed thereto, shall, subject to the provisions of the said trade agreements, be applied as though such modifications and continuance were specified and provided for in Part I of Schedule XX (Geneva-1947), as follows:

(1) The rates of duty specified in column A at the right of the respective descriptions of products in the said schedules annexed to the said trade agreements supplementary to the General Agreement, on and after June 29, 1957,

(2) The rates of duty specified in column B at the right of the said respective descriptions of products, on and after the date or dates determined in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of the General Notes at the end of the schedules annexed to the said trade agreements.

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 29th day of June in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-first.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

By the President:

JOHN FOSTER DULLES,

Secretary of State