Proclamation 3454—Modification of Trade Agreement Concession and Adjustment of Duty on Certain Machine-Woven Pile Floor Coverings

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 amended (19 U.S.C. 1351), on October 30, 1947 the President entered into a trade agreement with certain foreign countries, which trade agreement consists of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, including a schedule of United States concessions, and the Protocol of Provisional Application of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, together with a Final Act Adopted at the Conclusion of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment (61 Stat. (Pts. 5 and 6) A7, All, and A2051), and by Proclamation No. 2761A of December 16, 1917 (61 Stat. (Pt. 2) 1103) be proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out that agreement on and after January 1, 1948, which proclamation has been supplemented by several subsequent proclamations;

2.     Whereas the said General Agreement has been supplemented by several subsequent agreements, including the Sixth Protocol of Supplementary Concessions to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of May 23, 1956 (7 UST (Pt. 2) 1036) and the President, by Proclamation No. 3140 of June 13, 1956 (70 Stat. C33), proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out the said agreements on and after June 30, 1956;

3.     Whereas the trade agreement specified in the second recital of this proclamation included a supplementary schedule of United States concessions, hereinafter referred to as "Schedule XX-1956";

4.     Whereas the prevailing United States tariff concession under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as supplemented, on Wilton carpets, rugs, and mats; Brussels carpets, rugs and mats; velvet or tapestry carpets, rugs, and mats; and carpets, rugs, and mats of like character or description (hereinafter referred to as "the designated machine-woven pile floor coverings") is included in item 1117(a) in Part I of Schedule XX 1956, and the current United States duty reflecting the said prevailing tariff concession is that specified in Column "C" of said item 1117(a);

5.     Whereas the United States Tariff Commission has submitted to me a report of its Investigation No. 7-104 under section 7 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1364), on the basis of which investigation, and a hearing held in connection therewith, the Commission has found that, as a result in part of the duty reflecting the concession referred to in the fourth recital of this proclamation, the designated machine-woven pile floor coverings are being imported into the United States in such increased quantities, both actual and relative, as to cause serious injury to the domestic industry producing like products; and that, in order to remedy serious injury to such industry, it is necessary to increase the duty on the designated machine-woven pile floor coverings to 40 per centum ad valorem;

6. Whereas, upon the modification of the said item 1117(a) in Part I of Schedule XX-1956 as hereinafter proclaimed, it will be appropriate, to carry out the said General Agreement, to apply to the designated machine-woven pile floor coverings a duty of 40 per centum ad valorem:

Now, Therefore, I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by section 350 (a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, and by section 7(c) of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951, as amended, and in accordance with the provisions of Article XIX of the said General Agreement, do proclaim that, effective after the close of business April 18, 1962, and until the President otherwise proclaims--

(a)     the descriptions of products in the said item 1117(a) in Part I of Schedule XX-1956 and the pertinent rate in column "C" are hereby modified to read as follows:

and

(b)     the provisions of item 1117 (a) in Part I of Schedule XX-1956, as modified by (a) above, shall be applied and all inconsistent provisions of proclamations of the President heretofore issued under the authority of section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930 are suspended.

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 nineteenth day of March in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and eighty-sixth.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

By the President:

GEORGE BALL,

Acting Secretary of State