PROBLEMS OF THE ITO. THE CHARACTER AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GENERAL COMMITMENTS THAT NATIONS WILL MAKE UNDER THE ITO CHARTER.

The article discusses the problems of the charter of the International Trade Organization (ITO) signed in Havana, Cuba in March 1948. The Charter of the International Trade Organization, which was signed by fifty-three nations at Havana in March, 1948, is certainly the most comprehensive international agreement on foreign trade ever negotiated. In both the Havana Charter and the Geneva Agreement there has been developed an approach to the problem of multilateral tariff reductions which gives promise of being more successful than anything hitherto attempted in this field. Previous multilateral tariff negotiations have generally broken down over the difficulty of agreeing on a formula for over-all reductions which would be acceptable to both high-tariff and low-tariff countries. In the ITO Charter, no such formula has been sought. On the contrary, reliance is placed on a broadened application of the type of bilateral bargaining which has been successfully employed in the American Trade Agreements Program. The Havana Charter lays down the general rule that ITO members shall not employ quantitative restrictions on either imports from or exports to other members. The exceptions to this rule, however, are so extensive that it is not easy to weigh the significance of the general commitment.