Bell Trade Act
The Bell Trade Act of 1946, also called the Philippine Trade Act, set the rules for trade between the Philippines and the United States after the Philippines gained independence. The United States offered $800 million in postwar rebuilding funds if the Bell Act was ratified by the Philippine Congress. The act required amending the 1935 Philippine Constitution. The Philippine Congress approved the measure on July 2, 1946, two days before independence, and a plebiscite to amend the constitution was approved on September 18, 1946.
Authored by Missouri Representative C. Jasper Bell, the act included a key provision called the parity clause, intended to guarantee American and Philippine citizens equal rights to resources and trade advantages. Critics argued the act surrendered too much national sovereignty. Pressure from sugar producers and other large landowners, especially in Western Visayas, helped push the measure through.
In 1955, the Laurel–Langley Agreement revised the Bell Trade Act. It removed U.S. control over the peso’s exchange rate, made parity privileges reciprocal, and extended the sugar quota and the time allowed for reducing other quotas and tariffs on Philippine exports to the United States.
To implement the constitutional changes, a plebiscite was held after the Philippine Congress approved the amendment with a three‑quarters vote in both houses. That approval was achieved only after the House barred six members of the leftist Democratic Alliance and three from the Nacionalista Party for alleged fraud and violent campaigning in the April 1946 election. The Supreme Court later ruled that the three‑quarters requirement referred to three‑quarters of the full membership, not just those present.
The plebiscite was held on March 11, 1947, and voters approved the amendment 79 to 21 percent, with about 40 percent of eligible voters participating.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:05 (CET).