Editorial Note

In 1950 a number of organizational questions arose with respect to the conduct of United States foreign policy regarding the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT): the question of the status of China and the eventual withdrawal from GATT by the Republic of China; United States interest in possible participation by Yugoslavia in GATT; questions relating to a possible accession to GATT by Switzerland; a group of interrelated problems tied to the impending accession to GATT by the Federal Republic of Germany; and; United States interest in having a Japanese Government observer at GATT sessions (and substantively, United States interest in securing most-favored-nation treatment for Japan). Documentation on all of these issues is located in file series 394.31 (there is heavy documentation on the China question).

Still another organizational question, that of the continuing administration of GATT (inter-sessional management), was intimately tied to the problem of bringing into existence the proposed International Trade Organization, provision for which had been made at the Havana Conference in 1948. In respect of the ITO problem, United States policy was decisive, and selected documents relating to the ITOGATT question are included herein.