White House Press Release, Message from President Harry S. Truman to the Congress

AUGUST 29, 1952 The following Message of the President has been delivered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives. JOSEPH SHORT Secretary to the President TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: On August 28, 1952, the United States signed an agreement with Venezuela which amends and supplements the Trade Agreement of 1939 between the two countries. In view of a special situation which arose in connection with this agreement, I am submitting the following state- ment to the Congress: Subsection (a) of Section 3 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951 provides that before entering into negotiations for a trade agreement the President shall submit to the Tariff Commission a list of the articles to be considered for specific concessions and that upon receipt of such list 11 the Commission shall make an investigation and report to the President the findings of the Commission with respect to each such article as to (1) the limit to which such modification, imposition, or continuance may be extended in order to carry out the purpose of such section 350 without causing or threatening serious injury to the domestic industry producing like or directly competitive articles; and (2) if increases in duties or additional import restrictions are recuired to avoid serious injury to the domestic industry producing like or directly competitive articles the minimum increases in duties or additional import restrictions required. Such report shall be made by the Commission to the President not later than 120 days after the receipt of such list by the Commission. No such foreign trade agreement shall be entered into until the Commission has made its report to the President or until the expiration of the 120-day period." The findings of the Tariff Commission under this subsection are popularly known as the "peril point" findings. Under subsection (a) of Section 4, in case the President enters into a trade agreement which exceeds the so-called "peril point" findings of the Tariff Commission he shall within the 30 days "transmit to Congress a copy of such agreement together with a message accurately identifying the article with respect to which such limits or minimum requirements are not complied with, and stating his reasons for the action taken with respect to such article. If either the Senate or the House of Represent- atives, or both, are not in session at the time of such transmission, such agreement and message shall be filed with the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or both, as the case may be." Subsection (b) of Section 4 requires the Tariff Commission promptly after the President has transmitted such foreign trade agreement to Congress to "deposit with the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, a copy of the portions of its report to the President dealing with the articles with respect to which such limits or minimum requirements are not complied with." In preparation for the negotiations with the Government of Venezuela looking towards an agreement supplementary to the existing reciprocal trade agreement with that country of November 6, 1939, I submitted to the Tariff Commission a list of articles to be considered for specific concessions by the United States. In accordance with Section 3 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951, hereinabove set forth, the Tariff Commission reported to me on December 27, 1951, its findings with respect to each such article as to the limit below which concessions could not be granted without causing or threatening serious