negotiations in this phase will have as their aim the reduction of tariffs and other charges on imports through the exchange of reciprocal and mutually advantageous tariff concessions. In addition to the countries named in the May announcement the United States may negotiate with Argentina, Cambodia, Ireland, Libya and Portugal, all of which will be negotiating for accession to the GATT, and with Turkey, which is a contracting party. United States participation in the negotiations will be under the authority delegated to the President in the Trade Agreements Act, which was most recently extended and amended by Public Law 686, 85th Congress, in 1958. No concession can be made in excess of that authority. Under the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1958, the President is authorized to enter into trade agreements within the four-year period ending June 30, 1962. In such trade agreements the President is authorized to reduce United States duties in stages by any one of three alternative methods as follows: 1. Reducing the rate existing on July 1, 1958 by not more than 20 percent, provided that no more than a 10 percent reduction may be made effective in any one year. 2. Reducing the rate existing on July 1, 1958 by not more than 2 percentage points ad valorem (or its ad valorem equivalent, in the case of a specific rate or a combination of ad valorem and specific rates). The reduction in any one year under this alternative may not exceed 1 percentage point. 3. Reducing to 50 percent ad valorem or its equivalent a rate which is in excess of that level, provided that not more than one-third of the total reduction may become effective in any one year. The issuance of the supplementary notice of intention to negotiate and the supplementary list of products which may be considered in such negotiations, together with related notices issued by the Committee for Reciprocity Information (CRI) and the United States Tariff Commission, sets in motion the usual domestic procedures for obtaining full information in preparation for negotiations. The related notices concern (a) CRI arrangements for the submission of oral and written views on the forthcoming negotiations, and (b) the Tariff Commission's arrangements for public hearings in connection with its "peril point" investigation of the extent to which concessions on listed products in the United States tariff may be made without causing or threatening serious injury to a domestic industry producing like or directly competitive products. The United States will grant no concession on any product not included in the list published May 28, 1960, this supplementary list, or a subsequent published list. Appearance of a product on the public list is exclusively for the purpose of affording interested persons an opportunity to present their views on the possibility of a concession; it does not carry with it the implication that a concession will in fact be offered or made on the product. Domestic producers, importers and other interested persons are invited to present their views as to whether concessions should or should not be made on products on the published import list together with all possible pertinent information about such products. Submissions may also be presented to assist in compliance with the policy recommended in the President's message to the Congress of March 30, 1954 relating to avoidance of concessions on products made by workers receiving wages which are substandard in the exporting country which is the principal supplier. All views and information will be carefully considered in arriving at a decision on each product as to whether or not a concession should be made by the United States. Details concerning the submission of briefs and applications to be heard on concessions which the United States might either grant or obtain are contained in the notice of the Committee for Reciprocity Information which is attached to this release. The hearings before the Committee will open on January 5, 1961. Applications for oral presentation of views and information should be made to the Committee not later than the close of business December 27, 1960. Persons desiring to be heard should also submit written briefs or statements to the Committee by the close of business December 27, 1960. The closing date for submission of briefs by persons not desiring to be heard is January 5, 1961. Only those persons will be heard who presented written briefs or statements and filed applications to be heard by the date indicated. The United States Tariff Commission also announced today that it would hold public hearings beginning January 5, 1961 in connection with its "peril point" investigation, as required by section 3(a) of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951, as amended, on the extent to which United States concessions on listed products may be made in the negotiations without causing or threatening serious injury to a domestic industry producing like or directly competitive products. Copies of the notice of the Tariff Commission may be obtained from the Commission. Views and information received by the Tariff Commission in its hearings referred to above will be made available to the Committee for Reciprocity Information for consideration by the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements and the Trade Policy Committee. Persons whose interests relate to products included in the list published today, and who have appeared before the Tariff Commission need not--but may if they wish--appear also before the Committee for Reciprocity Information, if they apply in accordance with the procedures of that Committee, as outlined here. Persons desiring to suggest items, either import or export, additional to those in the lists for consideration in the negotiations should present their views to the Committee for Reciprocity Information. As mentioned above, if any additional items are considered for the granting of concessions by the United States, they will be the subject of a further public notice and no concession will be made without such notice. INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ON TRADE AGREEMENTS Supplementary Notice Relating to Trade Agreement Pursuant to Section 4 of the Trade Agreements Act, approved June 12, 1934, as amended (48 Stat. 945, ch. 474; 65 Stat. 73, ch. 141), and to paragraph 4 of Executive Order 10082 of October 5, 1949, as amended, (3 C.F.R., 1949-1953 Comp. pp. 281, 355), notice was published on May 28, 1960 by the Interdepartmental Committee on Trade Agreements of proposed trade agreement negotiations with foreign governments which are contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and with the Governments of Israel, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia (25 F. R. 4764). Annexed to such notice was a list of articles imported into the United States to be considered for possible modification of duties or other import restrictions, imposition of additional import restrictions, or specific continuance of existing customs or excise treatment in the announced trade agreement negotiations (25 F. R. 4756-79), which list was later corrected in certain particulars (25 F. R. 5197). Further notice is hereby given, supplementary to the original notice, that the foregoing trade agreement negotiations will include possible negotiations also with the Governments of Ireland, Libya, Cambodia, Argentina and Portugal, or with instrumentalities thereof, and including in each case areas in respect of which such governments or instrumentalities thereof have authority to conduct trade agreement negotiations. There is annexed here to a list, supplementary to the original list, as corrected, of additional articles imported into the United States to be considered in the proposed trade agreement negotiations for possible modification of duties and other import restrictions, imposition of additional import restrictions, or specific continuance of existing customs or excise treatment. The additional articles proposed for consideration in the negotiations are identified in the annexed list by specifying the numbers of the paragraphs in the tariff schedules of Title I and Title II of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, in which they are provided for together with the language used in such tariff paragraphs to provide for such articles, except that where necessary the statutory language has been modified by the omission of words or the addition of new language in order to narrow the scope of the original language. Where no qualifying language is used with regard to the type, grade, value, et cetera, of any listed article, all types, grades, values, et cetera, of the article covered by the language used are included. In case of any listed article that is subject to an import tax under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, the tax on such article will be considered for possible modification or binding against increase. In the case of each article in the list with respect to which the corresponding product of Cuba is now entitled to preferential treatment, the negotiations referred to will involve the elimination, reduction, or continuation of the preference, perhaps in some cases with an adjustment or specification of the rate applicable to the product of Cuba. No article will be considered in the negotiations for possible modification of duties or other import restrictions, imposition of additional import restrictions, or specific continuance of existing customs or excise treatment unless it is included, specifically or by reference, in the list annexed to the notice by the Committee published May 28, 1960, as corrected, or in the list annexed hereto, or unless it is subsequently included in a further supplementary public list (or in a prior list in the case of a continued negotiation of compensatory adjustments). Except where otherwise indicated in the next sentence of this notice or in the list itself, only duties imposed under the paragraphs of the Tariff Act of 1930 specified in the list with regard to articles described therein and import taxes, if any, imposed on such articles under the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, will be considered for a possible decrease, but additional or separate duties or taxes on such articles imposed under any other provisions of law may be bound against increase as an assurance that the concession under the listed paragraph or section will not be nullified. In addition, any action which might be taken with respect to basic duties on products may involve action with respect to compensatory duties imposed on manufactures containing such products. In the event that an article which as of February 1, 1960, was regarded as classifiable under a description included in the list is excluded there from by judicial decision or otherwise prior to the conclusion of the trade agreement negotiations, the list will nevertheless be considered as including such article. Pursuant to Section 4 of the Trade Agreements Act, as amended, and paragraph 5 of Executive Order 10082 of October 5, 1949, as amended, information and views as to any aspect of the proposals, including the list of articles, announced in this supplementary notice may be submitted to the Committee for Reciprocity Information in accordance with the announcement of this date issued by that Committee. Persons interested in export articles may wish to express their views regarding any tariff or other trade concessions that might be requested of foreign governments, or instrumentalities thereof, with which negotiations are to be |