Proclamation 4554

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

From the days of its founding, the United States has always been a trading nation. Commercial relations with the rest of the world enabled our country to develop, prosper, and grow strong. Today, more than ever, international trade is essential to our national well-being.

For the American consumer, expanded trade means broader choices in the marketplace. For American business, it means more opportunities to sell the products of American ingenuity in the world's markets. For the American worker, it means more jobs at home.

International trade encourages the exchange of ideas as well as knowledge and experience among nations. It helps make better use of global resources and nurtures trust among the world's nations.

The United States is firmly committed to fair and open trade. To that end, we and our trading partners are pledged to eliminate impediments to trade, bring about sound and liberal trade rules, and keep the world's economy moving ahead.

Now, THEREFORE, I, JIMMY CARTER, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week beginning May 21, 1978, as World Trade Week, and I urge that all the people of the United States participate during this week in activities that will promote continuing awareness of the importance of world trade to our Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and second.

JIMMY CARTER

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:45 p.m., March 16, 1978]