<--PREV Doc #1141  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1143 Document #1142; November 4, 1954 To Samuel Clark Waugh Series: EM, AWF, Dulles-Herter Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XV - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part VI: Crises Abroad, Party Problems at Home; September 1954 to December 1954 Chapter 13: "A new phase of political experience"   Dear Mr. Waugh:1 Since you are soon leaving to participate in the Ninth Session on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in Geneva, I should like to ask that you convey to your fellow delegates the importance that we attach to a successful outcome of the forthcoming renegotiation and review of the Agreement.2 The task before the contracting parties at this Ninth Session is one of crucial significance to the further economic growth of the free world. At the time of the Eighth Session, the United States and other countries were reappraising their international economic policies.3 Based upon such a review in the United States, I recommended in March of this year a program for expanding international trade and overseas investment, for promoting currency convertibility, and for reducing the need for economic aid. Some portions of this program have already been put into effect. The remaining parts, especially the heart of the program--extension and amendment of our Trade Agreements Act--will, as you know, be pressed at the session of the Congress which begins in January, and I look forward to early action.4 That program envisages United States participation in a multilateral approach to tariffs and trade. The General Agreement has made a useful contribution to the postwar recovery and restoration of the economic vitality of the free world. It was established at a time when the economies of most countries had been seriously weakened. The trade rules of the Agreement recognized that the objective of the widest possible movement of goods among the countries of the world could not be immediately realized, but the goal was set with confidence that it would be progressively achieved. I am convinced that economic reconstruction and growth has now reached a point in many countries to warrant further development of the Agreement, so that we may progress with even more assurance toward our ultimate objective. It would also seem essential that an effective organization be established for the administration of the Agreement and otherwise to promote an expansion of world trade. The interests of the participating countries may at times seem to conflict. Our mutual goal is of such importance to the economic strength and well-being of all our peoples, however, that this session must be a practical demonstration of the ability of free countries to reach agreement on difficult issues. I am hopeful that ways and means of moving forward now toward our common goal will be found and that the Ninth Session of the Contracting Parties will be one of high achievement.5 Sincerely 1 Samuel Clark Waugh, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, would head the U.S. delegation to the ninth session of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The session had begun on September 28 and would end on March 7, 1955. Secretary Dulles had drafted this letter for Eisenhower, and Waugh would read it to the session delegates on November 8 (Dulles to Eisenhower, [Nov. 4, 1954], AWF/D-H). 2 The Randall Commission on Foreign Economic Policy had recommended the renegotiation of the organizational provisions of the GATT (see nos. 445 and 908). For the U.S. position regarding the revision see State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. I, General: Economic and Political Matters, pt. 1, pp. 207-17; and U.S. Department of State Bulletin 31, no. 804 (November 22, 1954), 772-76. 3 The eighth session had taken place in Geneva from September 17 to October 24, 1953. See State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. I, General: Economic and Political Matters, pt. 1, pp. 158-74. 4 For Eisenhower's message to Congress on foreign economic policy see Public Papers of the Presidents: Eisenhower, 1954, pp. 352-64; see also no. 833. For the President's 1955 message, sent to Congress on January 10 see U.S. Department of State Bulletin 32, no. 818 (January 24, 1955), 119-22. 5 The members would agree to a protocol admitting Japan as a member; they would tighten the rules limiting the ability of underdeveloped nations to impose discriminatory import duties; and they would permit import quotas, under stricter review procedures, in cases where infant industries needed protection. The delegation proposed the establishment of an Organization for Trade Cooperation (OTC) "to administer the organization's agreements, facilitate trade negotiations, and deal with trade disputes and complaints." The OTC could not be established, however, until the United States agreed to join the organization (State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. IX, Foreign Economic Policy; Foreign Information Program [1987], pp. 94-104; see also Kaufman, Trade and Aid, pp. 34, 43-44). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Samuel Clark Waugh, 4 November 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1142. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1142.cfm <--PREV Doc #1141  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1143

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