T HE UNITED STATES Congress intended the Philippine Trade Act of 19461 to serve as a permanent legal framework within which PhilippineUnited States economic relations would be conducted. The Act represented a compromise between divergent interests. United States groups with commercial and agricultural investments in the Philippines sought to perpetuate the close economic ties between the two countries and advocated continued free trade. This position was also supported by Philippine agricultural and commercial interests with a stake in the sheltered United States market. Opposed were United States agricultural interests, such as sugar and vegetable oil producers, which sought to end the preference enjoyed by competing Philippine products in the American market. A third interested group, comprising both Filipinos and Americans, desired to establish genuine sovereignty and economic independence in the Philippines. Aware of the difficulties of the transition to genuine independence, they preferred to minimize the preferential American position in the Philippine economy without a concomitant reduction in the Philippine access to a protected American market. Congressional opinion was influenced in its attitude toward Philippine trade legislation by the companion Philippine war damage compensation legislation2 and the previously enacted G. I. Bill of Rights, which committed the United States to heavy outlays in the Philippines during the early postwar years. Because of this generosity, Congress was less reluctant to establish a preferential United States position in the Philippines at the expense of Philippine political and economic independence. The legislation which finally resulted, two months and four days before the scheduled date for Philippine independence on July 4, i946, was an unfortunate compromise which pleased few interested parties, contained significant infringements on Philippine sovereignty, interfered with the establishment of genuine Philippine independence and, for many observers, was a regrettable blemish in United States relations with a proven ally of great potential value.