611.4131/1887½
Minutes of the Final Meeting of the Delegations of the United States of America and the United Kingdom
With a view to recording the understanding which the Delegations of the United States of America and the United Kingdom reached with respect to certain provisions of the Trade Agreement signed today, the Minutes of the Final Meeting of the two Delegations have been drawn up as follows:
1. It was agreed that the mention of the provisions of the Trade Agreement relating to most-favored-nation treatment in the second sentence of Article I thereof is intended to refer to those Articles of the Agreement providing for most-favored-nation treatment as qualified by reservations included in other Articles of the Agreement.
2. It was agreed that the provisions of Article VIII of the Trade Agreement are understood to be subject, on the part of the United States of America, to the existing or future constitutional limitations on the authority of the Federal Government.
3. The United Kingdom Delegation assured the United States Delegation that no use would be made of the right to impose additional duties to countervail export bounties or subsidies, reserved in paragraph 2 of Article IX and paragraph 2 of Article X of the Trade Agreement, for the purpose of according preferences to any Empire country.
4. With reference to the second sentence of Article XII of the Trade Agreement, the United States Delegation furnished the United Kingdom Delegation with the following list of special duties which are required by existing laws of the United States of America to be imposed on imported goods under certain circumstances: [Page 73]
- Additional duties on articles imported under an agreement in restraint of trade, levied under Section 802 of the Revenue Act of 191666 (U. S. Code, title 15, section 73);
- Antidumping duties levied under the Antidumping Act of 1921;67
- Countervailing duties levied under Section 303 of the Tariff Act of 1930,68 as amended;
- Additional duties for failure to mark imported articles or their containers to indicate the country of their origin, levied under Section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended;
- Additional duties for undervaluation levied under Section 489 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended;
- Additional duties for false declaration of antiquity levied under Section 489 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended;
- Additional duties on unusual containers levied under Section 504 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
It was explained that this list was believed to include all of the principal charges not included within the meaning of the term “ordinary customs duties”, to which articles enumerated and described in Schedule IV might be subject under the second sentence of Article XII, other than compensating taxes levied under the internal revenue laws of the United States of America.
5. It was agreed that, while the two High Contracting Parties reserved their freedom of action with respect to the matters mentioned in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 of Article XVI of the Trade Agreement, it was understood that there would be no arbitrary discrimination under like circumstances and conditions by either High Contracting Party against articles originating in the territories of the other in favor of the like articles originating in any other foreign country.
6. It was agreed that the reservation in subparagraph (b) of paragraph 2 of Article XVI of the Trade Agreement regarding prohibitions and restrictions relating to the enforcement of police or revenue laws is understood to include, among other matters, measures relating to the enforcement of laws dealing with the infringement of patents, trade marks or copyright, or dealing with deceptive labelling or labelling to indicate ingredients, or dealing with counterfeit currency or coins.
7. It was agreed that the reservation in subparagraph (c) of paragraph 1 of Article XVI of the Trade Agreement regarding prohibitions or restrictions imposed by either High Contracting Party in pursuance of international agreements in force on the day of the signature of the Agreement is intended to refer only to measures adopted pursuant to obligations under the International Rubber [Page 74] Regulation Agreement69 and under the International Tea Agreement.
8. The United Kingdom Delegation assured the United States Delegation that they could see no prospect of the application to articles the growth, produce or manufacture of the United States of America specified in Schedule II of the Trade Agreement, of the provisions of subsection (8) of Section 10 of the Newfoundland Revenue Act of 1935 or of subsection (4) of Section 109 of the Newfoundland Customs and Excise Act of 1938.
9. It was agreed that it is intended that the reduction of the duty on patent leather for which provision is made in Schedule I of the Trade Agreement will be effected by amendment of the Section 6 of the Finance Act, 1934, by substituting 7½ percent for 15 percent of the value of the goods. The other provisions of the said section will remain unchanged, including those in the proviso to subsection (1). It is not the intention of the Government of the United Kingdom to alter the existing interpretation of “patent leather” adopted in administering the duty.
10. With reference to the note in Schedule I regarding the quota for hams, the United Kingdom Delegation informed the United States Delegation that the Danish and Polish Governments have agreed to waive their rights in order to make possible the separate quota for hams only on condition that, after the establishment of the United States quota of 500,000 cwts., that quota shall not be increased in any four-monthly period by more than 7½ percent above the quota in the same period of the preceding year.
11. The United Kingdom Delegation assured the United States Delegation that sympathetic consideration would be given, without compensation being requested, to such reductions in the existing import duties in the United Kingdom on dried prunes, dried raisins, canned apricots, canned peaches and canned pears as the Commonwealth of Australia and the Union of South Africa might be ready to accept as the result of discussions between the United States of America and those members of the British Commonwealth. It was understood that, although this assurance need not be treated as confidential, it would not be made generally public.
12. The United Kingdom Delegation assured the United States Delegation that the Government of the United Kingdom has no present intention of altering the existing ratio between the preferential and general rates of duty on silk stockings to the disadvantage of United States exporters.
13. The United States Delegation assured the United Kingdom Delegation that in the event of any reduction in the duty of 50 cents [Page 75] per gallon on ale, porter, stout or beer, resulting from a Trade Agreement between the United States of America and another country, such reduction would not be confined to any one of the products in question but would be extended to all of them. It was understood that, although this assurance need not be treated as confidential, it would not be made generally public.
14. In response to repeated representations, the United States Delegation assured the United Kingdom Delegation that, in the event of amendments to the provisions of Section 602½ of the Revenue Act of 1934,70 as amended, (imposing processing taxes on certain vegetable oils) being considered, the interest of the British colonies in the American market for vegetable oils will be borne in mind in formulating recommendations to the Congress.
15. The United States Delegation informed the United Kingdom Delegation that they would have no objection to the publication of the following as a statement made during the course of the negotiations of the Trade Agreement:
“With reference to certain questions regarding the policy of the United States Government in relation to exports of wheat and flour which have been raised during the course of the negotiation of the Trade Agreement between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, signed this day, under which provision is made for the entry free of duty of wheat imported into the United Kingdom from the United States, the United States Delegation made the following statement:
“The policy of the United States Government in relation to exports of wheat and flour has been determined by the existing world wheat situation and influenced by governmental policies elsewhere affecting the production, export and import of wheat. It is recognized that the restoration of equal treatment for United States wheat on importation into the United Kingdom is an important step towards the reestablishment of more normal trading conditions in the world wheat market. At the same time the United States Government through its wheat acreage adjustment program, which is intended to reduce the area of 81 million acres sown to wheat for harvest in 1938 to 55 million acres in 1939, is undertaking, independently, a significant and constructive contribution towards the solution of the world wheat problem.
“The United States Government has long held the view that the only sound way in which to find a solution of the problem of excess world wheat supplies is through international collaboration involving both wheat importing and wheat exporting countries. In view of its program of acreage reduction combined with assistance to producers and in the absence of any international arrangement for dealing effectively with the problem of adjusting world export supplies to world import requirements, the United States Government has had to proceed independently with measures to assure that too burdensome a surplus will not be accumulated [Page 76] in the United States. This has necessitated a measure of governmental action in the export of wheat and compensatory assistance to exporters of flour. This policy is not designed to secure for United States wheat and flour a larger share of world import requirements than they enjoyed in previous years of normal wheat production in this country. Wheat is being marketed abroad through the regular trade channels in response to the demands of the market. The scheme of assistance to exporters of flour is not intended to do more than compensate exporters for such prejudice as they might suffer from any differences between the prices of wheat within the United States and in export markets resulting from the scheme of assistance to exporters of wheat.
“While in view of rapid changes in the policies of other wheat exporting countries it is not possible for the United States Government to give definite assurances as to future policy in relation to exports of wheat and flour, it is confidently expected that this policy taken together with the program of acreage adjustment already referred to will work in the direction of higher rather than lower prices in world markets.”
16. The representatives of the Department of State on the United States Delegation assured the United Kingdom Delegation that the Department of State would give sympathetic consideration to a British request that a recommendation be made to the Congress that the provisions of Section 309 of the Tariff Act of 1930 be amended to provide, on a basis of reciprocity, for an exemption from or drawback of customs duties and internal taxes for equipment of vessels engaged in foreign trade. They stated that they were in a position to make a similar statement on behalf of certain other government departments, but that it had not been possible as yet to secure a statement of the views of all of the Executive departments concerned.
17. It was agreed that the authorized officers of the British Embassy in Washington and of the American Embassy in London should be given reasonable facilities by the competent authorities to discuss with the officers of the appropriate Departments of the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom, respectively, matters arising from the application of the Trade Agreement or from the administration of laws and regulations affecting commerce between the countries concerned.
18. It was agreed that, while the texts of these minutes would not be published as such, there would be no objection to making the substance of them generally public, subject, however, to the restriction imposed with reference to paragraphs 11 and 13 by the last sentences of those paragraphs.
Chief, Division of Trade Agreements,
Department of State, United States of America
A. E. Overton
Joint Second Secretary to H. M. Board of Trade