Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill To Carry Out U.S. Obligations Under the International Coffee Agreement.

May 24, 1965

I HAVE signed into law S. 701, an act to carry out the obligations of the United States under the International Coffee Agreement. Pursuant to section 8 of the act, I have made and have had transmitted to the Congress on the basis of the facts, technical analysis, and counsel available to me the determination that the act will not result in an unwarranted increase in coffee prices to United States consumers.

The United States is now in a position to do its full part in making the International Coffee Agreement an effective instrument for stabilizing the world coffee market in the interests of both consumers and producers.

Coffee dominates the economy of Latin America and many countries in Africa and Asia as well. More than 20 million persons depend directly on coffee for their livelihood. The hopes of these countries and these people for economic and social progress are tied to coffee. A weak and disorderly coffee market is of deep concern to them and to us.

The United States helped to develop the International Coffee Agreement, as we promised we would when the Alliance for Progress was launched. It is the purpose of the agreement to keep coffee prices on an even keel both to protect our consumers and to enable the countries so dependent on coffee for their well-being to have stable earnings that grow as consumption grows.

It is important that the coffee agreement achieve its purpose. We will use the authority granted in this act to help assure that this purpose is achieved.

Note: As enacted, the bill (S. 701) is Public Law 89-23 (79 Stat. 112). It was approved by the President on May 22, 1965.

The International Coffee Agreement was signed for the United States on September 28, 1962 (see Public Papers of the Presidents, John F. Kennedy, 1962, Item 418). It entered into force on December 27, 1963. The text of the agreement (TIAS 5505) is printed in United States Treaties and Other International Agreements ( 14 UST 1911 ).

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill To Carry Out U.S. Obligations Under the International Coffee Agreement. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241410

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