Statement by the President Upon Issuing Order on the Administration of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Program

I WISH to reaffirm the faith of this administration in the Cordell Hull Reciprocal Trade Agreements Program which became effective in 1934 and which has been extended by Congress all these years. This program is based on the principle of negotiation between this and other countries for the reduction of trade restrictions and elimination of discriminations on a mutually advantageous basis; for each concession granted by the United States, a corresponding concession is received. This program has become an integral part of our foreign policy, and has widespread support from industry, labor, and farmers.

I am today issuing an Executive order which formalizes and makes mandatory certain existing trade agreements procedures and which, in addition, makes some procedural changes. I wish to make clear that the provisions of the order do not deviate from the traditional Cordell Hull principles. They simply make assurance doubly sure that American interests will be properly safeguarded.

This order is the result of conversations between Under Secretaries of State Acheson and Clayton and Senators Vandenberg and Millikin, and has been carefully considered by the interdepartmental trade agreements organization. This organization is composed of representatives of the Departments of State, War, Navy, Treasury, Agriculture, and Commerce, and the Tariff Commission.

The United States is preparing to meet with 18 other nations in Geneva on the 10th of April to negotiate on policies affecting world trade. We plan to complete the draft of a charter establishing common principles of world trade policy and setting up an international trade organization. We also shall negotiate the reduction of tariffs, the removal of other barriers to trade, and the elimination of discriminatory practices. I am very happy that Senators Vandenberg and Millikin agree that we should go forward with the Geneva negotiations.

All of us must now recognize that bipartisan support of our foreign economic policy, as well as of our foreign policy in general, is essential. If we are to succeed in our efforts, through the United Nations, to organize the world for peace, we cannot refuse our cooperation where economic questions are involved. Here, as elsewhere in our foreign relations, we must abandon partisanship and unite in our support of a foreign policy that serves the interests of the Nation as a whole.