Harry S. Truman photo

Proclamation 2791—Supplementing Proclamation of December 16, 1947 Carrying Out General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

June 12, 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 sections 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 imported 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. 8863), which proclamation has been supplemented by Proclamation 2769 of January 30, 1948 (13 F.R. 467), Proclamation 2782 of April 22, 1948 (13 F.R. 2211), Proclamation 2784 of May 4, 1948, and a Proclamation of June 11, 1948;

Whereas, said protocol of provisional application has been signed by the Government of the Union of South Africa on May 14, 1948, and said Government will be a contracting party to said general agreement on June 14, 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 June 14, 1948, said trade agreement specified in the 1st recital of this proclamation:

Item (paragraph Rates of duty

209 [first]-------------------------------1/8 cent per lb.

742---------------------------------------6 ¼ cents per cu. Ft. of such bulk or the capacity of

The packages, according as imported

1102(b) [second]-----------------------All rates;

Now, Therefore, be it known that, acting under the authority of said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 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, effective on and after June 14, 1948, the concessions provided for in part I of said schedule XX which are identified in the 4th 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 4th 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 any amendments and rectifications of said agreement and said proclamation 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.

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 12th day of June, 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 2791—Supplementing Proclamation of December 16, 1947 Carrying Out General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/287248

Simple Search of Our Archives