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Proclamation 2784—Supplementing Proclamations of December 16, 1947 and January 1, 1948, Carrying Out General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and Exclusive Trade Agreement with Cuba, Respectively

May 04, 1948


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas, pursuant to the authority conferred by section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by section 1 of the Act of June 12, 1934, by the Joint Resolution approved June 7, 1943, and by section 2 and 3 of the Act of July 5, 1945 (48 Stat. 943 and 944, ch. 474, 57 Stat. 125, ch. 118, 59 Stat. 410 and 411, ch. 269; 19 U.S.C. (1946) 1351), the period within which said authority may be exercised having been extended by section 1 of said Act of July 5, 1945 until the expiration of three years from June 12, 1945 (48 Stat. 944, ch. 474, 59 Stat. 410, ch. 269; 19 U.S.C. (1946) 1352(c)), on October 30, 1947 the President entered into a trade agreement with the Governments of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Kingdom of Belgium, the United States of Brazil, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Czechoslovak Republic, the French Republic, India, Lebanon, the Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, new Zealand, the Kingdom of Norway, Pakistan, Southern Rhodesia, Syria, the Union of South Africa, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which trade agreement consists of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the related Protocol of Provisional Application thereof, together with the Final Act Adopted at the Conclusion of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment which authenticated the texts of said general agreement and said protocol;

Whereas, On December 16, 1947 by Proclamation 2761A the President proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles important into the United States of America as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out said trade agreement on and after January 1, 1948 (12 F.R. 8866), which proclamation has been supplemented by Proclamation 2769 of January 30, 1948 (13 F.R. 467) and Proclamation 2782 of April 22, 1948 (13 F.R. 2211);

Whereas, pursuant to the authority conferred by said section 350, the period within which said authority may be exercised having been so extended, on October 30, 1947 the President entered into an exclusive trade agreement with the Government of the Republic of Cuba (T.D. 51819 (Customs)), which exclusive trade agreement includes certain portions of other documents made a part thereof and provides for the customs treatment in respect of ordinary customs duties of products of the Republic of Cuba imported into the United States of America;

Whereas, On January 1, 1948 by Proclamation 2764 the President proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America in respect of products of the Republic of Cuba and such continuance of existing customs and excise treatment of products of the Republic of Cuba imported into the United States of America as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out said exclusive trade agreement on and after January 1, 1948 (213 F.R. 25 and 26), which proclamation has been supplemented by said proclamations of January 30, 1948 and April 22, 1948;

Whereas, said protocol of provisional application has been signed by the Government of the Republic of China on April 21, 1948, and said Government will be a contracting party to said general agreement on May 22, 1948;

Whereas, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, determine that the application of such of the concessions provided for in part I of schedule XX of said general agreement which were withheld from application in accordance with article XXVII of said general agreement by said proclamation of December 16, 1947 as are identified in the following list is required or appropriate to carry out, on and after May 22, 1948, said trade agreement specified in the 1st recital of this proclamation:

Whereas, I determine that it is required that the concessions represented by the second item 212 and the third item 1503 in party I of schedule XX of said general agreement shall be applied as if the portions of said section item 212 relating to the subdescription starting "Other (except hotel", and said third item 1503, were stated as follows:

Whereas, I determine that, in view of the determination set forth in the 6th recital of this proclamation, the deletion of item 1529(a) from the list set forth in the 7th recital of said proclamation of January 30, 1948 is required or appropriate to carry out, on and after May 22, 1948, said trade agreement specified in the 1st recital of this proclamation;

Whereas, I determine that, in view of the determination set forth in the 6th recital of this proclamation, the following amendments of the lists set forth in the 8th and 9th recitals of said proclamation of January 1, 1948, as amended and rectified, are required or appropriate to carry out, on and after May 22, 1948, said exclusive trade agreement specified in the 3rd recital of this proclamation:

(a) The modification of item 1529(a) in said 8th recital to read as follows:

1529(a) Articles (except wearing apparel) in part of handmade lace over 2 inches wide and in part of handmade lace not over 2 inches wide and containing no machine-made material or article provided for in paragraph 1529(a), Tariff Act of 1930, however provided for in said paragraph 1529(a): Valued at $150 or more per pound-----------54% ad val.;

(b) The deletion of the following items in said 9th recital:

Item (paragraph)

24

397

409 [first]

409 [ second]

761 [second]

775 [ second]

778

1504(a)

1506

1507; and

(c) The modification of the first item 775 in said 9th recital to read as follows:

775 Vegetables (including horseradish) if pickled or packed in salt or brine (except cucumbers and onions, if pickled, or packed in brine) and not specially provided for .28% ad val.;

Whereas, The rates of duty in the first item 765 and the third item 1513 in the 9th recital of said proclamation of January 1, 1948 were inadvertently misstated, and I determine that it is required or appropriate to carry out said exclusive trade agreement specified in the 3rd recital of this proclamation that the rate in said first item 765 be changed to "1.6 cents per lb." and the rate in said third item 1513 be changed to "28% ad val."; and

Whereas, the number of the schedule referred to in item 1537(b) in said 9th recital of said proclamation of January 1, 1948 was inadvertently misstated, and I determine that it is required or appropriate to carry out said exclusive trade agreement specified in the 3rd recital of this proclamation that the number of said schedule be changed to "Schedule XX";

Now, Therefore, be it known that, acting under the authority of said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended:

PART I

To the end that said trade agreement specified in the 1st recital of this proclamation may be carried out, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, do proclaim that:

(a) Effective on and after May 22, 1948, the concessions provided for in part I of said schedule XX which are identified in the 6th recital of this proclamation shall no longer be identified in the 8th recital of said proclamation of December 16, 1947, and the rates of duty representing such concessions identified in said 6th recital of this proclamation shall be applied, subject to the applicable terms, conditions, and qualifications set forth in said schedule XX, and parts I, II, and III, of said general agreement, and in subdivision (a), other than exception (I) thereof, of said proclamation of December 16, 1947, including in each case any amendments and rectifications which have been proclaimed by the President, to articles of the kinds provided for in the descriptions of products in the column at the left of said rates;

(b) The rates of duty specified in the 7th recital of this pr5oclamation shall be applied, subject to the applicable terms, conditions, and qualifications set forth therein, to the articles described in the column at the left of such rates as though said rates, descriptions, and related paragraph numbers had appeared in part I of schedule XX of said general agreement on October 30, 1947; and

(c) Effective on and after May 22, 1948, the list set forth in the 7th recital of said proclamation of January 30, 1948, as amended, shall be further amended in the manner indicated in the 8th recital of this proclamation; and

PART II

To the end that said exclusive trade agreement specified in the 3rd recital of this proclamation may be carried out, I do further proclaim that:

(a) Effective on and after May 22, 1948, the lists set forth in the 8th and 9th recitals of said proclamation of January 1, 1948, as amended and rectified, shall be further amended in the manner indicated in the 9th recital of this proclamation; and

(b) The list set forth in the 9th recital of said proclamation of January 1, 1948, as amended and rectified, shall be further rectified in the manner indicated in the 10th and 11th recitals of this proclamation effective as though said rectifications had appeared in said 9th recital on January 1, 1948.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 4th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-eight and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-second.

Signature of Harry S. Truman

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

G. C. MARSHALL,

Secretary of State.

Harry S Truman, Proclamation 2784—Supplementing Proclamations of December 16, 1947 and January 1, 1948, Carrying Out General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and Exclusive Trade Agreement with Cuba, Respectively Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/287240

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