CH–2. Press Release Prepared in the Office of the Secretary of the Interior (Seaton)1
SECRETARY SEATON URGES REPEAL OF SUSPENSION ON COPPER-IMPORT TAXES
Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today recommended that Congress repeal the suspension on copper-import taxes which has been in effect since 1947.
In recommending passage of S. 3234 which would revoke the suspension of copper-import taxes, Secretary Seaton said: “The import tax was suspended at a time when copper was in short supply the world over. Serious difficulties were being experienced in meeting defense requirements arising from the Korean War. Both the Government and domestic producers wished to remove any obstacles to increasing copper supplies.”
“The circumstances on which the original suspension and its subsequent extensions were based no longer exist. In the course of the past year and one-half the extreme shortage of copper has disappeared and there is now an adequate supply,” the Secretary said in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee.
Copper-import taxes have been suspended since 1947 with the exception of short periods in 1950 and 1951. The current suspension remains in effect so long as the price of copper is 24 cents per pound or above, or until June 30, 1958, unless sooner repealed by Congress. The suspended import taxes on copper are now two cents per pound when the price drops below 24 cents per pound and 1.8 cents per pound so long as the price is at/or above 24 cents per pound.2
- Source: Department of State, ARA/WST Files, Lot 63 D 85, “Copper.”↩
- Ambassador Mariano Puga of Chile and Roy R. Rubottom, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, discussed Seaton’s statement on April 14, 1958. In his memorandum of the conversation, Rubottom stated that he explained that the Department was faced with two problems: “Our foreign relations problem, which involved our desire to avoid any increase in tariffs on copper which would affect Chile adversely, and our domestic problem, which involved the complaints of the industry and their efforts to seek from the Congress protection which they considered necessary.” He further stated, “The Department felt it would be hard to oppose stubbornly the industry’s pressure for a tariff on copper but if there had to be an increase in copper tariffs, the least damaging would be to permit the old rate to be reinstated upon the expiration of the suspension on June 30.” The Ambassador remarked that, “he greatly feared that if this problem could not be resolved promptly, there was a possibility that President Ibáñez might cancel his [proposed] visit.” (411.256/4–1458)↩