sistant Secretary of Commerce for Air William A. M. Burden; Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, U. S. N. retired; Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, Chairman, United States Section, Permanent Joint Board on Defense (Canada-United States); and L. Welch Pogue and Edward P. Warner, Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively, of the Civil Aeronautics Board. As previously noted, Representatives Bulwinkle and Wolverton were members of the Special Committee on Communications, of which Mr. Berle was Chairman, and Mr. Pogue was a member of the Special Committee on International Aviation, of which Mr. Berle was also Chairman. The American preparation for this Conference had been a primary concern of the Special Committee on International Aviation and, within the Department, of the Office of Transportation and Communications, then under Mr. Berle.

The Final Act of the Conference was signed on December 7, 1944. It included a general air convention, providing among other things for the establishment of an International Civil Aviation Organization; an interim agreement providing for the creation of a Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization to function in this field until the permanent organization could be established; two agreements on transit and commercial entry rights-one known as the "Two Freedoms" and one as "Five Freedoms" document; and several resolutions on other aspects of civil aviation. The provisions in both the convention and the interim agreement relating to the establishment of the permanent and the provisional organizations, respectively, included authorization for these organizations to enter into agreements with other international bodies." The agreements were accepted by this Government on February 8, 1945, as executive agreements.8 Senate consent to ratification of the general convention was requested by the President on March 12, 1945.9

PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL TRADE CONFERENCE

PARTICULAR EMPHASIS was placed during this final period of the preparation on the desirability of obtaining the agreement of our Allies and also that of the Congress to certain basic postwar policies in the international trade field. As will be recalled, the informal conversations with the British in the autumn of 1943 had, outside the financial and investment fields, been primarily concerned with the problems of commercial policy, commodity policy, and international cartel

'The provisional organization came into effect June 6, 1945, and the permanent organization, Apr. 4, 1947. Department of State Bulletin, XII, 1056; XVI, 809. Ibid., XII, 198.

'Consent was received July 26, 1946, and the Convention was ratified Aug. 6, 1946. Ibid., XII, 437; XV, 337.

practices, and conversations with the Canadians on these same subjects had followed early in 1944. Out of these conversations and the intensive work being carried on by the Special Committees on the Relaxation of Trade Barriers, on Commodity Agreements and Methods of Trade, and on Private Monopolies and Cartels, certain definite proposals had been evolved. These were considered by the Post-War Programs Committee in the spring and early summer of 1944.

The essence of these proposals was, in the field of commercial policy, the conclusion of a multilateral convention for the relaxation of trade barriers and the establishment of an international trade organization. In the field of commodity policy, it was the formulation of an international code of principles and the establishment of an international commodity organization. And in the field of cartels, it was the conclusion of a multilateral convention to forbid and prevent restrictive cartel practices and the establishment of an "International Office of Business Practices." 10 Complete agreement, however, on certain aspects of these proposals was lacking: for example, on the relative advisability from the standpoint of this Government of a bilateral or a multilateral approach to the problem of the reduction of trade barriers and on the degree of autonomy that should be enjoyed by the proposed specialized organizations. The Post-War Programs Committee reserved final judgment pending the further consideration of these aspects by the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy on the basis of recommendations from its subcommittees," but approved the general direction of the thought on these problems.

While work in these fields was continuing in the Department's Office of Economic Affairs and in the interdepartmental committees, the President and Secretary Hull, in an exchange of letters released to the press,12 agreed that the elimination of cartel practices that "restrict the free flow of goods in foreign commerce" was a part of the same liberal commercial policy as the trade agreements program. The President in his letter of September 6 stated that this elimination could "be achieved only through collaborative action by the United Nations" and expressed the hope that the Secretary would keep his "eye on this whole subject of international cartels because we are approaching the time when discussions will almost certainly arise between us and other nations." In reply, the Secretary said on September 11:

"For more than a year the Department, together with other interested agencies, has been giving careful attention to the issues which

10 See appendixes 44, 45, and 46.

"The former special committees on these problems had become subcommittees of the ECEFP.

12

Sept. 8 and 13, 1944; Department of State Bulletin, XI, 254, 292–93.

you mention, as well as other related subjects. An interdepartmental committee was established at my suggestion, and has been giving constant and current consideration to cartel matters and the methods by which the objectives set forth in your letter may best be achieved and most appropriately be coordinated with other facets of our foreign economic policy.

In the near future, and consistent with the pressing demands of the war upon your time, I want to present to you in more detail plans for discussions with other United Nations in respect to the whole subject of commercial policy."

Two and a half months later, work on these plans had progressed sufficiently to permit Assistant Secretary Acheson, in a statement on November 30, 1944, before the Subcommittee on Foreign Trade and Shipping of the House of Representatives' Special Committee on Post-War Economic Policy and Planning, to outline the thinking as it had developed to date in the Executive branch on commercial and commodity policy and on the cartel problem. Mr. Acheson announced the Department's intention "to seek an early understanding with the leading trading nations, indeed with as many nations as possible, for the effective and substantial reduction of all kinds of barriers to trade," and said:

"... If exploratory discussions with representatives of other governments give encouragement to our efforts, a trade conference of the United and Associated Nations should be held at the earliest practicable date for the negotiation of an agreement for the reduction of all kinds of barriers to trade. This agreement would of course be submitted to the Congress for its consideration." 13

A draft convention on commercial policy, prepared by its Subcommittee on Trade Barriers, had been submitted by this time to the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy.

Also by this time, a basic document on commodity policy, drawn up by the Subcommittee on Commodity Agreements under the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy, had been approved by this Committee and by the President. The thought in this document was reflected in Mr. Acheson's statement on November 30 when he said that it would be "desirable," in the case of commodity agreements, "to seek agreement between governments that all international commodity arrangements of this type should be based upon an acceptance of certain fundamental principles, in order to insure that such arrangements shall subserve the broader purposes of an expanding world economy."

Work on the cartel problem was less far advanced, and Mr. Acheson could state only that the Executive agencies of the Government were

13

Ibid., XI, 656–62. At this date the related problems of trade barriers, commodity agreements, and cartels were being discussed by Mr. Hawkins with British officials in London.

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"attempting to determine the most fruitful means of reaching international agreement for the curbing of private restrictions on international commerce." The Subcommittee on Private Monopolies and Cartels was still in the process of formulating its definitive proposals in this field, which were not considered and approved by the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy until the following March.

Mr. Acheson further asserted on November 30, however, that in addition to the International Labor Organization and the projected International Bank and Fund and Food and Agriculture Organization, there would also be needed "international organization as a continuing forum on the problems of international trade, commodity arrangements, and private business agreements." He specifically projected an international trade organization and an international agency to "facilitate cooperation between governments in the solution of international commodity problems." All these specialized organizations, Mr. Acheson said, would be brought into close relationship with the Economic and Social Council of the general United Nations organization envisaged at Dumbarton Oaks, in order to insure that their objectives and activities were "in fact harmonious and consistent with each other."

The fact that plans were maturing in all these fields was indicated by President Roosevelt's message to the Congress on February 12, 1945, in which he requested action on the Bretton Woods agreements.1 He then stated:

"Nor do I want to leave with you the impression that the Fund and the Bank are all that we will need to solve the economic problems which will face the United Nations when the war is over. There are other problems which we will be called upon to solve. It is my expectation that other proposals will shortly be ready to submit to you for your consideration. These will include broaden

ing and strengthening of the Trade Agreements Act of 1934, international agreement for the reduction of trade barriers, the control of cartels, and the orderly marketing of world surpluses of certain commodities

وو

The many considerations involved and the preliminary negotiations required were such, however, that it was not until almost the end of the year that the United States proposals for international agreement in the three additional fields mentioned by the President on February 12 were made public.

Several related steps occurred in the interval. The President urged, in a message to the Congress on March 26,1 the extension of the reciprocal trade agreements program; this was authorized early in the sum

14 Ibid., XII, 220–22.

18 See p. 244.

The Staff Committee, on May 18, 1945, approved recommendations looking toward the convening of an international conference on trade and employment after certain preliminary steps had been taken. These steps fall beyond the scope of this volume. They culminated in the Anglo-American Financial and Trade Discussions held that autumn and in the formal issuance following these discussions of the United States "Proposals for Consideration by an International Conference on Trade and Employment." 18 The British, it was announced in a joint statement issued simultaneously, were "in full agreement on all important points in these proposals," and accepted them "as a basis for international discussion." It was also announced that the proposals had been circulated to other governments as a basis for discussion preparatory to the conference.17

The United States Proposals combined in one organization the three specialized fields of commercial and commodity policy and cartels and were based on the documentation prepared by the three subcommittees of the Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy that were working in these specific fields and by its Subcommittee on Specialized International Economic Organizations.

OTHER SPECIALIZED AGENCIES PROJECTED

Six other lines of economic and social work were also at varying stages of development in the terminal period of the postwar preparation. President Roosevelt mentioned two of these in his message to the Congress on February 12, 1945, when he referred to proposals being prepared in the fields of "shipping and radio and wire communication."

16 On Dec. 6, 1945. For text of proposals see appendix 47. The Anglo-American discussions of postwar financial and trade problems, instituted in Washington in the autumn of 1943, were resumed in London, under the chairmanship of Assistant Secretary Clayton, in August 1945 following the Potsdam Conference. The recent change in the British Government, however, made only preliminary discussion possible at this time, and it was decided to postpone the formal discussions for a month. These discussions opened in Washington on Sept. 11 and continued until Dec. 6. As described in the joint statement issued by President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee on Dec. 6, they were "concerned with the major problems affecting the basic economic and financial relations between the two countries, in the light of the provisions of article VII of the mutual aid agreement". The subsequent international discussions under United Nations auspices, 1946-48, based on these proposals, resulted in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, negotiated at Geneva in 1947, and in the Charter for an International Trade Organization, negotiated at the Habana Conference in the winter of 1947-48. The charter is currently awaiting ratification.

"Department of State Bulletin, XIII, 395, 905-29.