Proclamation 5140

by Ronald Reagan

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

1. Pursuant to section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1351), the President, on October 30, 1947, entered into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (hereinafter referred to as "the GATT"), and by Proclamation 2761A of December 16, 1947 (61 Stat. (pt. 2) 1103), made the obligations of the GATT effective provisionally for the United States on January 1, 1948. The GATT includes a schedule of United States concessions, designated as Schedule XX, annexed thereto (61 Stat. (pt. 5) A1157). The GATT, Schedule XX, and Proclamation 2761A have been supplemented by subsequent agreements, schedules, and proclamations.

2. By Proclamation No. 4713 of January 16, 1980 (45 F.R. 3561), the President proclaimed temporary increased rates of duty, pursuant to sections 203(a)(1) and 203(e)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (the Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)(1) and 2253(e)(1)) and in accordance with Articles I and XIX of the GATT, on certain nonelectric cooking ware of steel, enameled or glazed with vitreous glasses, effective through January 16, 1984. These rates were in addition to the duties and staged reductions thereof previously agreed to in concessions by the United States.

3. The Governments of Japan and Spain had benefited from the concessions previously granted by the United States. As a result of the increased duties, the benefits contemplated to accrue to Japan and Spain were substantially reduced.

4. The restoration of the contemplated benefits of the tariff concessions to Japan and to Spain would promote the trade of the United States and those countries. Pursuant to section 123(a) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2133(a)), I have determined that, as a result of the action taken pursuant to section 203 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253), the United States should enter into trade agreements with Japan and Spain. Having complied with the provisions of the Trade Act, I have further determined that, in order to maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions, certain existing duties of the United States should be modified to carry out such agreements.

5. Following consultations between the Government of the United States and the Governments of Japan and Spain, the United States concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with Respect to Action by the United States on Porcelain-on-Steel Cookware Pursuant to GATT Article XIX with Spain on July 29, 1983, and a similar Memorandum with Japan on September 6, 1983. These agreements, negotiated by my duly empowered representative, set forth temporary reductions in or suspensions of the duties applicable to specified articles which the United States has agreed to implement to restore the balance of tariff concessions.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States of America, including sections 123 and 604 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2133 and 2483), do hereby proclaim:

(1) The Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) are modified as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.

(2) Part 1 of Schedule XX to the GATT is modified to take into account the modification set forth in the Annex to this proclamation.

(3) This proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 1984, and before the close of December 31, 1987, unless the period of its effectiveness is earlier expressly suspended, modified, or terminated.

(4) The Commissioner of Customs shall take such action as the United States Trade Representative shall direct in the implementation and administration of this proclamation.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:57 a.m., December 20, 1983]