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Certain articles containing butterfat

On May 21, 1957, at the direction of the President, the Tariff

Commission instituted an investigation of certain articles containing

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butterfat, under the provisions of section 22. The Commission

held a public hearing on June 11, 1957.

President on July 2, 1957. 2/

The Commission reported the results of its investigation to the In its report, the Commission found (Commissioners Talbot and Dowling dissenting in part) that certain articles containing 45 percent or more of butterfat or of butterfat and other fat or oil were being or were practically certain to be imported under such conditions and in such quantities as to materially interfere with the price-support program undertaken by the Department of Agriculture with respect to whole milk and butterfat, or to reduce substantially the amount of products processed in the United States from domestic milk and butterfat. To prevent such interference, the Commission recommended to the President (Commissioners Talbot and Dowling dissenting) that imports of such products be prohibited.

1 The articles with respect to which the investigation related were articles containing butterfat, the butterfat content of which is commercially extractable, or which are capable of being used for any edible purpose for which products containing butterfat are used, but not including the following: (1) Articles the importation of which is restricted under quotas established pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended; (2) cheeses the importation of which is not restricted by quotas established pursuant to the said section 22; (3) evaporated milk and condensed milk; and (4) products imported packaged for distribution in the retail trade and ready for use by the purchaser at retail for an edible purpose or in the preparation of an edible article.

2/ U. S. Tariff Commission, Certain Articles Containing 45 Percent or More of Butterfat or of Butterfat and Other Fat or Cil: Report to the President on Investigation No. 16 Under Section 22 1957 (processed).

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By June 30, 1957, the end of the period covered by this report, the President had not acted on the Commission's recommendations with

respect to certain articles containing butterfat.

Almonds

On June 28, 1957, at the direction of the President, the Tariff Commission instituted an investigation of shelled almonds and blanched, roasted, or otherwise prepared or preserved almonds, under the provisions of section 22. The investigation was still in process on June 30, 1957, the close of the period covered by this report.

Restrictions Under the Sugar Act

Beginning with the Sugar Act of 1934 1/and continuing with the

2/

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Sugar Acts of 1937 and 1948, all sugar for the United States
market, whether domestic or imported, has been limited by absolute
quotas, except during periods of emergency when the President has
exercised his authority to suspend the quotas. On September 1,
1951, the President approved legislation, which became effective
January 1, 1953, to extend the Sugar Act of 1948, in amended form,
for 4
which further amended the Sugar Act of 1948 and extended it for a

4/
years. On May 29, 1956, the President approved legislation

period of 5 years from January 1, 1956. 5/

Under the system of restrictions employed, the Secretary of Agriculture determines the quantity of sugar needed each year to

1/48 Stat. 670.

2/ 50 Stat. 903.

3/ 61 Stat. 922; 7 U.S.C. 1100.

4 65 Stat. 318.

5/70 Stat. 217.

supply the requirements of consumers in continental United States, taking into account "prices which will not be excessive to consumers and which will fairly and equitably maintain and protect the welfare of the domestic sugar industry." The quantity is then allocated, in the manner specified by law, among the producing areas in continental United States and its outlying territories and possessions and in the Republic of the Philippines, Cuba, and other foreign countries. 1/

Except for the Philippines, the allocations have been apportioned according to the shares of domestic consumption that were supplied by the respective sources before the controls were imposed. Under current legislation, the allocations are made in two stages. First, for a quantity of sugar determined by the Secretary of Agriculture

in each year up to 8,350,000 tons, 2/ the quotas for domestic areas (continental United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) and the Philippines are absolute quantities. The remainder of the total amount determined by the Secretary of Agriculture (up to 8,350,000 tons) is allocated proportionately to Cuba (96 percent) and to other foreign countries exclusive of the Philippines (4 percent). Second, for any part of the quantity of sugar determined by the Secretary of Agriculture that is in excess of 8,350,000 tons, domestic areas are allocated a 55-percent share and foreign countries other than the

1/ Under the Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act of 1955 the Philippine quota on sugar is fixed at 952,000 short tons. This quota, expressed in terms of 96° sugar (the basis of quota allocation in the Sugar Act of 1948, as amended), is equivalent to about 980,000 short tons.

2/ The amount of 8,350,000 tons was that initially determined by the Secretary of Agriculture as United States consumption requirements for 1956.

Philippines, a 45-percent share. Beginning in 1957, the share allocated to foreign countries other than the Philippines has been prorated to Cuba (29.59 percent), Mexico (5.10 percent), the Dominican Republic (4.95 percent), Peru (4.33 percent), and other countries (1.03 percent). Under the legislation in effect immediately before January 1, 1956, any increment in total estimated United States requirements as a result of expanded consumption was conferred on Cuba (96 percent) and on other foreign countries except the Philippines (4 percent). Under current legislation, however, domestic areas are granted 55 percent of future increments in total estimated requirements, and foreign countries other than Cuba and the Philippines are granted considerably larger shares of such increments than they previously had (15.41 percent, compared with 4 percent). The allocation to the Philippines, as noted above, is a fixed amount.

The sugar act provides for reallocation of deficits from any supplying area, and for some areas limits the quantity that may be supplied as refined (direct consumption) sugar. The act also provides for separate and additional quotas on imports of liquid sugar from foreign countries.

In 1956 any quantity in excess of 8,350,000 tons allocable to foreign countries other than the Philippines was to be prorated to Cuba (96 percent) and other foreign countries (4 percent).

Restrictions Under The Philippine Trade Agreement
Revision Act of 1955 1/

The Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act of 1955 / modified

substantially the provisions of the Philippine Trade Act of 1946. Under the 1946 act, most United States imports from the Philippines were dutiable at progressively increasing percentages of the United States rates, but some imports from the Philippines (including a few of the above) were subject to either declining duty-free quotas or absolute quotas.

Under the 1955 revised agreement between the United States and the Philippines, the absolute quotas established in the 1946 agreement on

imports of Philippine sugar 2/ and cordage were continued, but those on

imports of Philippine rice, cigars, cigar filler and scrap tobacco, coconut oil, and pearl or shell buttons were eliminated. United States imports of Philippine rice ceased to be subject to any quota under the revised agreement; imports of cigars, cigar filler and scrap tobacco, coconut oil, and pearl or shell buttons, however, continued to be subject to declining duty-free quotas. The schedule of declining duty-free quotas in the

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The United States-Philippine trade agreement was not concluded under the authority of the Trade Agreements Act of 1934, as amended. Both the Philippine Trade Act of 1946 and the Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act of 1955, which authorized the President of the United States to enter into the original and revised agreements with the Philippines, specifically prohibited the United States from entering into a trade agreement with the Philippines under the authority of the Trade Agreements Act as long as the United States-Philippine trade agreement remained in force. Because of the preferential duty arrangement between the United States and the Philippines, and the quotas established by the trade agreement on imports of Philippine products entering the United States, however, the quota provisions of the United States-Philippine trade agreement are discussed briefly here. 69 Stat. 413.

The Philippine Trade Agreement Revision Act of 1955 provides that "the limitations on the amounts of Philippine raw and refined sugar that may be entered,. . . shall be without prejudice to any increases which the Congress of the United States might allocate to the Philippines in the future."

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