Proclamation 4600—Temporary Staged Reduction of Rates of Duty on Certain Products

1. The President has determined, pursuant to section 101 (a) of the Trade Act of 1974 (the Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 2111 (a)), that certain existing duties of the United States are unduly burdening and restricting the foreign trade of the United States and that one or more of the purposes of the Trade Act would be promoted by entering into the trade agreement with India identified in the-fifth recital of this proclamation.

2. Pursuant to section 131(a) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2151(a), the President, on January 14, 1975, published and furnished the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) with lists of articles which may be considered for modifications or continuance of the existing United States duties, continuance of the United States duty-free or excise treatment, or additional duties, in the negotiation of trade agreements, including the trade agreement with India identified in the fifth recital of this proclamation. The USITC, after holding public hearings, has advised the President with respect to each such article of its judgment as to the probable economic effect of such modifications of duties on industries producing like or directly competitive articles and on consumers.

3. Pursuant to section 133 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2153) and in accordance with section 4(c) of Executive Order No. 11846 of March 27, 1975, the Special Representative for Trade Negotiations designated the Trade Policy Staff Committee to afford an opportunity, through public hearings and other means, for any interested person to present his views concerning any article on the lists identified in the second recital of this proclamation or any other matter relevant to the trade agreement negotiations, including the negotiation of the trade agreement with India identified in the fifth recital of this proclamation. The Trade Policy Staff Committee has furnished the President with a summary of its hearings.

4. Pursuant to section 132 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2152) the President has received information and advice with respect to the trade agreement with India identified in the fifth recital of this proclamation, from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Interior, Labor, State and the Treasury, from the Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, and from such other sources as the President has deemed appropriate.

5. Pursuant to section 101(a) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2111(a)), the President, through his duly empowered representative, on July 26, 1978, entered into a temporary trade agreement with India pursuant to which United States rates of duty on certain products would be temporarily modified, as hereafter proclaimed and as provided for in the Annexes to this proclamation, in exchange for certain measures which will benefit United States exports to India.

6. In order to implement the trade agreement referred to in recital 5 of this proclamation it is necessary to modify the Appendix to the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) as provided for in the Annexes to this proclamation, attached hereto and made a part hereof.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, including sections 101,109, and 604 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2111, 2119 and 2483), do proclaim that-

(1) Part 2 of the Appendix to the TSUS is modified as provided in Annexes I and II to this proclamation.

(2) Each of the temporary modifications to the Appendix of the TSUS made by this proclamation shall be effective as to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after October 1, 1978, and each such modification will continue in force until it is superseded by a permanent modification of the appropriate provision in schedule 1, 3, 4, or 5 of the TSUS proclaimed pursuant to multilateral negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and third.

JIMMY CARTER