611.9331/122a
The Secretary of State to President Coolidge
The President: The undersigned, the Secretary of State, has the honor to lay before the President, with a view, if his judgment approve thereof, to its transmission to the Senate to receive the advice and consent of that body to ratification, a treaty regulating tariff relations between the United States and China, which was signed on behalf of the United States by the American Minister at Peiping (Peking) and on the part of the Nationalist Government of the Republic of China by the Minister of Finance of that Government, on July 25, 1928.
The terms of existing treaties between the United States and China, which were concluded prior to the Treaty of Washington of February 6, 1922, provide for a Chinese tariff on imports and exports of five per cent ad valorem or for specific duties computed on the basis of an ad valorem rate of five per cent. Those treaties also provide for the issuance by China of drawback certificates for the return of duties, and they fix the rates at which China may collect transit dues and tonnage dues.
The Treaty of Washington of February 6, 1922, relating to the revision of the Chinese customs tariff, to which the United States, Belgium, the British Empire, China, France, Italy, Japan, the [Page 491] Netherlands and Portugal are signatories, and Denmark, Norway, Spain and Sweden have adhered, provided for a conference of the interested Powers to revise the tariff provisions of existing treaties with China and to authorize the levying of surtaxes on dutiable goods imported into or exported from China. That treaty was ratified by the last one of the signatory Powers on July 20, 1925.
Shortly before that time, I informed the American Minister at Peking20 that this Government believed that the Powers concerned should expedite preparations for holding the Special Tariff Conference and that this Conference should not only carry out the stipulations of the Washington Treaty but should also make recommendations with a view to granting complete tariff autonomy to China. The Tariff Conference met at Peking on October 26, 1925, and the delegates of the United States had full powers to negotiate a new treaty recognizing tariff autonomy for China. On November 19, 1925, there was adopted a resolution21 which affirmed the right of China to enjoy tariff autonomy and which envisaged the going into effect of the Chinese National Tariff Law on January 1, 1929. Unfortunately this Conference was forced to adjourn on account of civil conflict in China, without carrying out its program.
In my statement made public on January 27, 1927, a copy of which is attached,22 there was affirmed again this Government’s readiness to conclude a treaty recognizing the tariff autonomy of China as soon as there should emerge in China a situation in which it would be possible for the Chinese to appoint representatives with whom representatives of the United States could enter upon treaty negotiations. When, after the military activities of last spring, the Nationalist forces came into occupation at Peking, such a situation arose for the first time since the inconclusive and forced adjournment of the Peking Tariff Conference, and it became possible to negotiate a treaty.
This treaty relates to the regulation of tariff relations between the United States and China. It abrogates the provisions of existing treaties between the two countries which relate to rates of duty on imports and exports of merchandise, drawbacks, transit dues and tonnage dues. The two countries agree that the principle of complete national tariff autonomy shall apply between them and that neither shall discriminate against the other in the field of tariffs. The underlying principles of national autonomy and equality of treatment are those that apply generally among independent nations.
[Page 492]Copies of the existing treaties containing the provisions affected by the new treaty are enclosed.23
It is believed that by the signing of this treaty a benefit has been conferred upon all concerned, in that, while safeguarding American interests and doing no injury to the interests of any other country, the way has been pointed and a model has been provided for a procedure whereby the Powers may relinquish their so-called “control” over China’s tariff. It is believed, moreover, that this action is in conformity with the traditional American policy of friendship toward the Chinese nation.
Respectfully submitted:
- Telegram No. 125, July 1, 1925, to the Chargé in China, Foreign Relations, 1925, vol. i, p. 767.↩
- See telegram of Nov. 19, 1925, from the American tariff delegation, ibid., p. 881.↩
- See telegram No. 28, Jan. 25, 1927, to the Chargé in China, Foreign Relations, 1927, vol. ii, p. 350.↩
- Treaties between the United States and China relating to tariffs: July 3, 1844 (Malloy, Treaties, 1776–1909, vol. i, p. 196); June 18, 1858 (ibid., p. 211); Nov. 8, 1858 (ibid., p. 222); Nov. 17, 1880 (ibid., p. 239); Oct. 8, 1903 (Foreign Relations, 1903, p. 91); Oct. 20, 1920 (ibid., 1921, vol. i, 458). Treaty between the United States, China, and other powers, Feb. 6, 1922 (ibid., 1922, vol. i, p. 282).↩