Dwight Eisenhower on Free Trade

Export-Import Bank broke records in Latin America

Between 1953 and 1960, to help in finding solutions, we had done many things, starting with that popular export, money. We had broken all records in increasing the new flow of US public and private capital to Latin America. Whereas in 1953, for example, that flow totaled $232 million, in 1957 it reached a peak of $1.6 billion, of which most was private funds.

In 1938 the Export-Import Bank had begun its loans to Latin American governments with a commitment of $100 million per year. In 1958, at the request of the administration, the Congress increased the lending authority of the bank from $5 billion to $7 billion.

As greatest trading nation, extend Trade Agreements Act

World trade supports a significant segment of American industry and agriculture. It provides employment for four and one-half million American workers. It helps supply our ever increasing demand for raw materials. It provides the opportunity for American free enterprise to develop on a worldwide scale. It strengthens our friends and increases their desire to be friends. World trade helps to lay the groundwork for peace by making all free nations of the world stronger and more self-reliant.

America is today the world's greatest trading nation. If we use this great asset wisely to meet the expanding demands of the world, we shall not only provide future opportunities for our own business, but in the process strengthen our security posture and other prospects for a prosperous, harmonious world.

Foreign policy should recognize importance of world trade

1. Revising our customs regulations to remove procedural obstacles to profitable trade.
2. Doing whatever Government properly can to encourage the flow of private American investment abroad.
3. Availing ourselves of facilities overseas for the economical production of manufactured articles which are needed for mutual defense and which are not seriously competitive with our own normal peacetime production.
4. Receiving from the rest of the world, in equitable exchange for what we supply, greater amounts of important raw materials which we do not ourselves possess in adequate quantities.