TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES WITH NETHERLAND INDIES The trade agreement went into effect February 1, 1936. For convenience all of 1936 is included in the post-agreement period. 1 The great bulk of the imports consist of rubber, tin, tapioca, sago, and other duty-free articles. 1 The bulk of the imports consists of coffee, bananas, and other duty-free articles. TRADE OF THE UNITED STATES WITH FINLAND The agreement went into effect November 2, 1936. For convenience the entire year 1936 is included with the preagreement period. ! The great bulk of the imports consist of wood pulp and newsprint paper which are free of duty. Preagreement and postagreement trade of United States with principal trade-agreement Mr. GRADY. Exhibit III shows that the share which we have supplied of the total imports of trade-agreement countries has shown a marked increase, both in the aggregate and for most of them taken separately, and that this share has increased in greater measure than the increase in our share of the imports of other countries. As pointed out in the second paragraph of the explanatory statement in this exhibit, the share which the United States supplied of the total imports of the 16 countries with which trade agreements were in effect before January 1, 1938, increased from 12.2 percent in 1933, to 19.7 percent in 1938, as compared with an increase from 12.1 to 14.5 percent in our share of the imports of the 20 most important countries with which trade agreements were not in effect by January 1, 1938. This is an increase of 61.5 percent for the 16 trade-agreement countries as compared with 19.8 percent for the 20 others. EXHIBIT III [Reprint from "Commerce Reports" of February 10, 1940, issued by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of Commerce] UNITED STATES INCREASES ITS SHARE IN TRADE OF TRADE-AGREEMENT COUNTRIES Analysis of the foreign-trade returns of the 16 countries with which trade agreements became effective before January 1, 1938, reveals a marked increase in the percentage of total imports supplied by the United States. The statistics show that the United States not only increased the value of its sales to those countries but also improved its competitive position with reference to other suppliers. In 1933, the year before the approval of the Trade Agreements Act, the United States supplies 12.2 percent of total imports into the 16 trade-agreement countries in question. Each subsequent year shows an increase, and, by 1938, the latest for which statistics are available, the percentage supplied by the United States had risen to 19.7 percent, while the share supplied by other countries, which was 87.8 percent in 1933, had declined to 80.3 percent by 1938. For the 20 most important countries with which no trade agreements were in effect (including the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Venezuela, the trade agreements with which entered in force only in 1939), the share of the United States in total imports was 12.1 percent in 1933 and 14.5 percent in 1938. The comparison between the two groups is, therefore, decidedly favorable to the trade-agreement countries. Turning to the other side of the picture, the 16 trade-agreement countries supplied 41 percent of total imports into the United States in 1933 and 44.1 percent in 1938, while during the same period the share of the 20 principal nonagreement countries declined from 40.8 percent to 36 percent, and the share of all nonagreement countries fell from 59 percent to 55.9 percent. In this connection it should be noted that imports into the United States showed an exceptional decline in 1938 compared to the previous year, this decline being particularly marked in the case of certain of the nonagreement countries which are leading sources of supply for basic raw materials normally imported in large volume. Only 1 trade agreement became effective during 1934 (with Cuba, September 3. 1934), 3 agreements became effective during 1935, 10 agreements during 1936, and 2 agreements during 1937. Consequently 1933 and 1934 may be considered preagreement years, and 1937 and 1938 postagreement years. Comparing the averages for these 2 periods, the share of total imports into the 16 agreement countries supplied by the United States increased 43 percent, while the share of their total imports supplied by other countries decreased 6.5 percent. On the side of imports into the United States no appreciable change took place in the division of trade between the 16 agreement countries and the nonagreement countries as a whole. AVERAGE IMPORTS INTO TRADE-AGREEMENT COUNTRIES Considered from the standpoint of value of trade, average imports into the 16 trade-agreement countries from the United States showed an increase of 62 percent in 1937-38 compared to 1933-34, while average imports from other countries increased only 6.3 percent. Making the same comparison, for the 20 most important nonagreement countries the value of average imports from the United States increased 50 percent and that of average imports from other countries 34.4 percent. The value of average imports into the United States showed an increase of 60.7 percent in the case of both the agreement countries and the nonagreement countries, the relative shares supplied by the two groups remaining unchanged. Detailed figures are given in the tables which follow. In order to make the statistics of the foreign countries comparable they have been converted into dollars at average rates of exchange. In making such conversions there is inevitably a certain margin of error, but this is believed to be too small to exert any noticeable influence on the results shown. Value of imports into 16 agreement countries 1 1 Includes only the 16 countries with which trade agreements became effective before Jan. 1, 1938. 1937. 1938. 915. 7 1.238.9 1, 196. 4 4,838. 2 4,876.9 5,753.9 6.988. 7 6, 073. 4 Includes the 20 most important countries (in order of importance from standpoint of 1938 exports from the United States) with which trade agreements were not effective before Jan. 1, 1938. 1 Since imports for consumption by countries are not available for 1933, the figures for that year cover general imports, whereas, for the other years they cover imports for consumption. The difference, however is too small to affect the comparison. |