Proclamation 4654—World Trade Week, 1979

A strong position in world trade is one of the foundations of the American economy. By expanding our trade, we enlarge the opportunities for U.S. companies to prosper under our free enterprise system and for U.S. workers to find employment throughout the American industrial complex.

Trade also joins us with other nations of the world in a partnership of peace and trust that advances the well-being of people everywhere. It encourages the international exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience, and assists in developing fuller and more fruitful use of the world's resources.

We in the United States are dedicated to policies that promote freer, wider trade and that avoid the destructive consequences of protectionism. We believe our economy is best protected, and our citizens better served, when barriers to trade between nations are lowered rather than raised.

We are the world's largest trading nation. Yet compared to many of our trading partners, we export less of our rich and varied production than we should.

World Trade Week gives us the opportunity to pledge ourselves to exporting as a national priority and renew our determination to succeed in the world marketplace.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning May 20, 1979, as World Trade Week, and I request all Federal, State and local officials to cooperate in the observance of that week.

I urge business, labor, agricultural, educational, professional and civic groups, and all the people of the United States to observe World Trade Week with gatherings, discussions, exhibits, ceremonies and other appropriate activities that promote awareness of the importance of world trade to our economy and our relations with other nations.

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

JIMMY CARTER