Word: gattes
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After more than two years of knocking at the door of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), Japan was invited in. The invitation extended last week represented months of hard negotiation by the U.S., which had to prevail over the fears of several nations (notably Britain, France, Australia) that Japan's admission would loose a flood of cheap Japanese goods on the world. The U.S. argument is that Japan must have the trading opportunities of GATT to counter the economic blandishments of Moscow and Peking...
Before Japan can cross the threshold to full membership, two-thirds of GATT's 34 members must approve her entry. Seventeen nations, including the U.S., already have signed or are negotiating contracts with Japan under the GATT regulations...
World trade grew so rapidly under GATT that the tariff concessions were expanded at a meeting in 1949, and again in 1951. The agreement now covers 58,000 concessions, on everything from locomotives to leather gloves. But GATT delegates, for all their accomplishments, never had a place to hang their hats. They met intermittently, lacked even an adequate secretariat. Earlier this year they decided to set up a permanent secretariat, the Organization for Trade Cooperation, to keep records of rate agreements, provide a forum for participating countries, make arrangements for negotiations, etc. But OTC would conduct no negotiations on tariffs...
...GATT and OTC have attracted impressive backers. In Tokyo last month, more than 1,200 delegates to the International Chamber of Commerce unanimously approved OTC; its supporters also include the A.F.L., the C.I.O., the American Farm Bureau...
Since Congress seems ready to extend the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, U.S. membership in GATT stands a good chance of continuing. But the supporters of freer world trade argue that this is not enough. GATT should be strengthened by a full-fledged agency to administer it. Some nations, e.g., France, have gone along with GATT only because the U.S. is firmly committed to it. If Congress refuses to approve OTC, other nations will regard it as a vote against GATT. They will hesitate to cooperate in any further trade agreements, and the most successful mechanism that has been...