Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, The Far East, Volume IV

611.943 Gloves/5

The Department of State to the Japanese Embassy³⁰

Wool-Knit Gloves

This Government regrets that the Japanese exporters consider it to be impossible to restrict their shipments so that arrivals in the United States of wool-knit gloves and mittens manufactured in Japan should not exceed 225,000 dozen pairs during the calendar year 1936. This Government has given the most careful thought to the circumstances to which the Japanese Government has referred, however. Recognizing the difficulties created for Japanese exporters this year by the volume of shipments that have already been made since December 1, 1935, it has made every effort to formulate some arrangement which would take account of these difficulties and which would at the same time give to the American industry the protection which has been made necessary by the very rapid increase in imports of competitive wool-knit gloves from Japan.

The report of the Tariff Commission upon its investigation under Section 336, made in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the United States, has already been submitted to the President. Unless by the voluntary action of the Japanese industry immediate assurance can be given that the position of the American industry will be adequately safeguarded in the future, the President has no alternative under the law than to give immediate effect to the recommendation of the Tariff Commission, under Section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930, that the base for the tariff upon imports of these goods should be shifted to the American selling price.

In spite of the considerable delay already occasioned in the efforts to secure a settlement of this matter, this Government is able to offer this final suggestion to the Japanese Government:

1. In recognition of the shipments of wool-knit gloves and mittens already en route to the United States, voluntary restriction by the Japanese exporters shall become effective applying to arrivals in the United States as of March 1, 1936. It is understood from the information presented by the Japanese Embassy that the arrivals in American ports of all Japanese wool-knit gloves and mittens between January 1 and March 1, 1936 will approximate 150,000 dozen pairs.

2. The Japanese exporters will undertake to restrict their shipments of wool-knit gloves and mittens to the United States so that total arrivals in the United States of wool-knit gloves and mittens manufactured in Japan, of all varieties, from March 1, 1936 to January 1, 1937 shall not exceed 200,000 dozen pairs.

3. If it should eventuate that the arrivals of all Japanese wool-knit gloves and mittens in American ports between January 1 and March 1, 1936 should exceed the estimated 150,000 dozen pairs, the Japanese exporters will undertake to restrict their shipments so that arrivals in the United States between March 1, 1936 and January 1, 1937 shall not exceed 200,000 dozen pairs less the amount by which arrivals between January 1 and March 1, 1936 exceed 150,000 dozen pairs.

4. Japanese exporters will so restrict their shipments to the United States of all grades and varieties of wool-knit gloves and mittens manufactured in Japan that the total arrivals in the United States during 1937 and 1938 shall not exceed 225,000 dozen pairs each calendar year.

It is in our judgment essential that the voluntary restriction undertaken by the Japanese interests should extend to at least three years in order that the American industry may have a permanently safeguarded position. Only an arrangement running at least this long could possibly assure a situation permitting the Executive to find action on the Tariff Commission’s report unnecessary. For this reason this Government cannot consider any voluntary restriction arrangement covering merely 1936 adequate, and must suggest that the Japanese exporters undertake this longer-range control program if the alternative of voluntary restriction is to be adopted.

The market position of the American industry is such that if that industry is to operate with assured prospects during 1936, it is essential that some form of effective restriction of imports should begin to operate at the earliest possible date and, therefore, no time is available for a prolongation of the discussions between the Japanese Government and the American Government of the possibility of voluntary restriction. For the sake of stabilizing the American wool-knit glove market to the advantage of the industry in both countries and for the wider interests of Japanese-American trade, this Government sincerely hopes that the Japanese Government and the Japanese manufacturers and exporters concerned will be able to accept, no later than Wednesday February 19, the specific compromise suggestions of means of regulating this trade presented above. In the event that the Japanese interests cannot indicate by that date their acceptance of this proposal, action on the report of the Tariff Commission will become essential.

[ Washington ,] February 15, 1936.

30. Handed to the Third Secretary of the Japanese Embassy by Mr. Veatch, February 15.