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Statement by the President on the Signing of the Charter of the International Trade Organization

March 24, 1948

I am deeply gratified that representatives of more than 50 nations are signing today in Havana the Charter for the International Trade Organization. This Charter will now be sent to the government of each nation for ratification.

The Charter for the International Trade Organization is a code of fair dealing in international trade. Member nations agree to work out mutually beneficial employment policies and ways of promoting economic development. The Charter provides for limitations upon cartels and defines the proper scope of intergovernmental commodity agreements. It establishes standards for the conduct of international trade. The Charter thus deals comprehensively with economic problems which heretofore have been dealt with piecemeal, if at all, in international agreements.

The Charter has immediate significance to the efforts of the nations now working to repair the devastation and dislocation caused by World War II. Acceptance of the Charter, in the spirit in which it has been framed, will stimulate the expansion of international trade upon which world prosperity depends. By supporting the growth of a prosperous international trade, this code of fair dealing will contribute greatly to our efforts for a just and lasting peace.

The development of this Charter is an example of the finest type of international cooperation. The action in Havana today marks the conclusion of one of the most difficult and important tasks ever undertaken at international conferences.

This achievement demonstrates that many countries can work together through the United Nations to reach sound agreement on complex international issues.

Harry S Truman, Statement by the President on the Signing of the Charter of the International Trade Organization Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232500

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