not to be exceeded, or higher duties to be applied, and that the application of the specified rates may be left to the President with only such general directions as that he shall proclaim the changes in rates when satisfied that the concessions offered, or the resulting heights of foreign tariffs, are reciprocally equal and reasonable. This principle has been extended by decisions under later acts. SECTION II LIST OF COMMERCIAL TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES IN FORCE APRIL 1, 1933 This tabulation includes all the treaties and Executive agreements now in force between the United States and other countries which contain provisions relating to customs tariffs. These international contracts are classified as treaties when they are ratified with the consent of the Senate; as Executive agreements when they are acts of the Executive without reference to the Senate. Unless otherwise indicated in the table, all these treaties and agreements provide for reciprocal and unrestricted most-favored-nation treatment with reference to customs duties. The type of most-favored-nation treatment stipulated in the different treaties and Executive agreements is described briefly as "conditional" or "unconditional." It is called unconditional when its application is automatic and independent of any act of the country entitled to it, and it is conditional when the favorable treatment in question, say a reciprocal tariff preference or other favor granted by one of the parties to the treaty to some third country in exchange for a like or equivalent favor, cannot be claimed by the other party to the treaty unconditionally as a right, but only on condition of granting a corresponding or equivalent compensation. Commercial treaties and agreements of the United States in force April 1, 1933 1 When different parts of a treaty or agreement in this list may be terminated by different periods of notice, the period indicated in this column refers to the most-favored-nation clause. 2 Numbers preceded by "T.S." refer to United States treaty series; those preceded by "E.A." refer to United States Executive agreement series; and the others indicate pages in volumes I, II, or III of United States treaties, conventions, etc. 3 This agreement lapses automatically if either party enacts legislation inconsistent therewith. Reciprocity treaty, with mutual tariff reductions; no most-favored-nation provision respecting tariffs. This treaty does not apply to Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and places "beyond the Cape of Good Hope". "France accords its lowest tariff rates to certain specified United States products (list A of the French law of Mar. 29, 1910, as amended by the modus vivendi of 1927). See Western European series, No. 1, U. S. State Department. *Most-favored-nation provisions are subject to exceptions as noted on p. 17. Treaty or Executive agreement Date signed Date in force Country Commercial treaties and agreements of the United States in force April 1, 1933-Continued This agreement lapses automatically if either party enacts legislation inconsistent therewith. Most-favored-nation provisions regarding customs duties are limited by Great Britain to its European territories. 10 A commercial treaty with Poland, signed June 15, 1931, was ratified by the United States Senate on Apr. 5, 1932, but has not yet been brought into force. (U. S. Cong. Rec., 11 Treaty with Serbia, extended to Serb-Croat-Slovene State in 1919 (art. 12 of the peace treaty of St. Germain, signed Sept. 10, 1919. U. S. Tr. III: 3731). Most-favored-nation provisions are subject to exceptions as noted on p. 17. EXCEPTIONS PROVIDED IN THE TREATIES A large proportion of the treaties and agreements in the preceding list contain most-favored-nation provisions subject to certain exceptions. These treaties have been marked with an asterisk (*) in the column headed "Most-favored-nation treatment". In most of these treaties the United States has made a reservation excepting from its most-favored-nation pledge United States commerce with Cuba, the Panama Canal Zone, and any territory or possession of the United States. To save repetition this reservation is referred to as "Exception A" in the following summary of exceptions to most-favorednation treatment: Austria: Exception A; and purely border traffic with frontier zones in neighboring countries. Brazil: Exception A. Bulgaria: Exception A. Chile: Exception A. Czechoslovakia: Exception A; and special arrangements between Czechoslovakia and Austria or Hungary, imposed by the treaties of peace. Dominion Republic: Exception A. Egypt: Exception A; and Egypt's commerce with the Sudan and with certain neighboring countries by virtue of regional conventions. Estonia: Exception A; and Estonia's commerce with Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and/or States in customs or economic union with Estonia. Finland: Exception A; and Finland's commerce with Estonia or with France under article 6 of the treaty of commerce between Finland and France of July 13, 1921 (wines and alcoholic beverages). Germany: Exception A; and purely border traffic with frontier zones in neighboring countries. Greece: Exception A. Guatemala: Exception A; and Guatemala's commerce with Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and/or El Salvador. Haiti: Exception A; and Haiti's commerce with the Dominican Republic. Honduras: Exception A; and Honduras' commerce with Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador. Hungary: Exception A. Latvia: Exception A; and Latvia's commerce with Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, or Russia; also border traffic of either party with frontier zones in neighboring countries. Lithuania: Exception A; and Lithuania's commerce with Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and/or Russia. Nicaragua: Exception A; and Nicaragua's commerce with Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador. Norway: Exception A; and Norway's commerce with Denmark, Iceland, or Sweden; also border traffic of either party with frontier zones in neighboring countries. Persia: Exception A. Poland: Exception A; and, on the part of Poland, its commerce with frontier zones in neighboring countries and with the German portions of Upper Silesia. Portugal: Special concessions by Portugal to Spain and Brazil. Rumania: Special favors of either contracting party to bordering countries to facilitate frontier traffic; rights and privileges to bordering states in economic or customs union with either party; exception A; and the special system of importation intended to facilitate the financial settlements arising from the war of 1914-1918. El Salvador: Exception A; and El Salvador's commerce with Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and/or Panama. Spain: United States commerce with Cuba; and, on the part of Spain, its commerce with Portugal. (E.A. of Oct. 6/22, 1923 (T. S. 693A), proroguing E.A. of Aug. 1, 1906; E.A. of May 2, 1925 (T. S. 716) and of Oct. 26, Nov. 7, 1927 (T. S. 758A), which prorogued and modified the E.A. of 1923.) By the terms of the 1927 agreement the most-favored-nation treatment pledged by Spain was limited to her conventional tariff rates in effect May 26, 1927, all of which (with some modifications) were merged with second column rates, effective January 1, 1929, such action being contemplated under the agreement. Spain has since granted special tariff preferences to other countries, without extending their applications to the United States. Turkey: Exception A; and, on the part of Turkey, its commerce with countries detached from the former Ottoman Empire in 1923, and with frontier zones in neighboring countries. SECTION III LIST OF COMMERCIAL TREATIES OF ALL NATIONS IN FORCE JANUARY 1, 1933, PLEDGING MOST-FAVOREDNATION TREATMENT WITH RESPECT TO CUSTOMS DUTIES 1 Below are listed, for convenient reference, the existing commercial treaties and agreements of all nations (as of January 1, 1933) 1 which contain provisions for most-favored-nation treatment in regard to customs duties, with dates indicating the year when the treaty was signed. Most-favored-nation treatment pledged in different treaties with respect to import duties may be either "conditional" or "unconditional." Such a provision in treaties is called unconditional when its application is automatic and independent of any act of the country entitled to it, and is known as conditional when the parties are not obligated to grant to each other gratuitously the most favorable tariff treatment or other concessions which they may grant to another country, unless such favors or concessions are granted without compensation; when granted in exchange for equivalent favors or concessions, the same treatment must be accorded to the other party in return for the same or equivalent compensation. In the great majority of tariff treaties most-favored-nation treatment is pledged unconditionally, and in the following list it is understood to be of that type unless otherwise indicated. In many recent treaties the most-favored-nation pledge, whether conditional or unconditional, is limited in scope, either as regards the countries or territories to which it shall apply, or as to its application to products of the respective parties. Either of the parties to such a treaty may grant its lowest rates of duty, not on all products of the other party but only on certain articles listed or otherwise specified in the treaty. In such cases the most-favored-nation treatment is said to be "limited", on one or both sides, as distinguished from full or complete most-favored-nation treatment. Most treaties also make express provision for certain customary exceptions from the most-favored-nation treatment pledged in the treaty in order that the respective governments may have a free hand to act in the public interest under exceptional circumstances. Such excepted matters include sanitary regulations for the protection of persons, livestock, or useful plants; special customs treatment for products of certain countries maintaining special relations with one of the parties, or united in a customs union with the importing country; border traffic with neighboring countries within a limited zone on either side of the frontier; supplementary duties to offset bounties; and rights or obligations of either party under general international conventions. 1 Except a few treatles known to have expired or to have come into force before going to press. |