The foundations of international cooperation must be laid now, and they must be built out of mutual confidence, mutual respect, and common interest. Today, we are engaged in the greatest cooperative enterprise in history. In this struggle for human freedom, 31 United Nations, large and small, are banded together in a brotherhood of self-preservation, and 12 other nations are associated with them. While bending their utmost energy to the attainment of complete military victory and enduring the immense sacrifices which the war im-· poses upon them, these nations are meantime laying plans for the future.

All these hope-inspiring plans for international cooperation will come to nothing more than pious expressions unless there is confidence that the countries which participate in them are determined to have ready for immediate use, whenever needed, the necessary instruments of effective action. So far as our Nation is concerned, the continued existence of the trade-agreements machinery is the most important of these instruments. It is the central and indispensable point in any feasible program of international cooperation. The only alternative is for nations to travel the same extremely narrow economic road that was traveled so disastrously during the years following the last war.

The many peoples who look toward this country with hope are watching our action on this act with profound interest. What we do about it will be looked upon as a signpost pointing to the path they can expect us to follow. Repudiation of the trade-agreements program, or the curtailment of it in scope or time by amendment, would be taken as a clear indication that this country which, in war, is bearing its full share of responsibility, will not do so in peace. This might well weaken the ties which hold together the group of nations with which we are so vitally associated in the prosecution of the war. Extension of the program without change will mean not only that we understand the kind of commercial relationships which, from a purely business point of view, lead to our mutual well being, but that we recognize the deeper implications of our great strength and commensurate responsibility for good or ill in the world.

Strong nonpartisan support of this nonpartisan legislation would have a most heartening effect on people here and everywhere who look forward, with profound hope, to a world rich in economic and spiritual opportunities for all.

The CHAIRMAN. That concludes your main statement?
Secretary HULL. Yes.

Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to insert a brief statement and tables, which I have prepared for the record, at this point.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, they may be inserted.

Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman, I wish to offer for the record several tables bearing upon the subject before us. All of these tables will, I believe, be of interest to the committee.

The first table I wish to offer shows the number of rate reductions made in the various trade agreements entered into to date. The total number of reductions, as ascertained by the Tariff Commission, is 1,180. If the reductions under the Cuban agreement are excluded, the number is 1,136.

(The table referred to is as follows:)

The second table I wish to offer shows the number of rates which have been frozen under the various agreements, which total 58. (The table referred to is as follows:)

Number of rates bound by trade agreements and in effect on Feb. 1, 1943

Rates bound in 2 or more agreements are counted only once, for the agreement that binds them first. Rates reduced and subsequently bound, or bound and later reduced, are counted only as reductions and are not included in this table. Bindings of free entry are not included in this table.

NOTE. To facilitate the use of the table those countries and schedules for which no rates have been bound, are omitted.

The third table shows the percentage of our dutiable imports which have been affected by reductions in duty under the various trade agreements. It is based on the reductions in effect as of February 1, 1943, as applied to the dutiable imports for 1939, which was the last full year before our import trade was seriously disrupted by the war. This table discloses that the reductions made thus far affect 63 percent, or nearly two-thirds, or our dutiable imports, which in 1939 were valued at $550,681,000. The table also shows that the average ad valorem rate on dutiable imports affected by the trade agreements has been reduced from a level of 56 percent to a level of 32 percent. This is an equivalent to a net reduction of 43 percent from the pre-agreement level.

(The table referred to is as follows:)

United States imports in 1939 grouped according to their value and their trade agreement status as of Feb. 1, 1943

1 Imports that actually entered at reduced agreement rates in 1939 together with those that would have entered at such rates had the reductions in effect on Feb. 1, 1943, been applicable throughout the year 1939. Imports from Germany and those entered free under special provisions are not included.

The next table shows the percentage reduction in the rates affected by trade agreements by tariff schedules. For example, in the case of the agricultural schedule, the rates affected by the agreements have been reduced from a level of 43 percent to a level of 23 percent-a net reduction in rates of 46 percent.

(The table referred to is as follows:)

Imports of commodities subject to rates of duty reduced by trade agreements, with the ad valorem equivalents of duties computed at trade agreement and preagreement rates, by tariff schedules, 1939

1 Imports that actually entered at reduced agreement rates in 1939 together with those that would have entered at such rates had the reductions in effect on Feb. 1, 1943, been applicable throughout the year 1939. * Computed from the amount of calculated duties on which the 2 preceding columns are based. Source: Compiled and computed by the U. S. Tariff Commission from official statistics of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

The next table shows that of the 160 items whose 1939 import value amounted to $500,000 or more, 81, or over half, were reduced by the full 50 percent permitted under the act. This group of 81 items made up 67.8 percent, or, roughly, two-thirds of the total dutiable imports affected by the trade agreements. Eighty percent of these 160 major dutiable imports were affected by reductions of more than 30 percent, and 87 percent by reductions of more than 20 percent.