Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1937, The American Republics, Volume V

611.2531/179: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile (Philip)

Washington, June 7, 1937—6 p.m.

21. Your despatch No. 585 of May 5.¹⁸ You are requested to present to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and, in your discretion, to discuss with the Minister for Finance, a memorandum incorporating the substance of the following:

“The American Embassy refers to the aide-mémoire of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated April 29, 1937,¹⁸ in which it is stated in the penultimate paragraph that the Government of Chile has made arrangements for certain of the officials of the commercial mission sent to Japan to proceed to Washington on their return from that country for the purpose of cooperating with the Chilean Embassy in negotiations for a commercial agreement with the United States.

The American Embassy has been directed to state that the Government of the United States will be pleased to explore with the Chilean officials upon their arrival in Washington the possibilities of a reciprocal trade agreement with Chile, which it is assumed would be of the kind which the United States has already negotiated with 15 countries and which it is now negotiating with other countries. These agreements comprise general provisions based upon the unconditional most-favored-nation principle, and schedules of tariff reductions and bindings. In this connection the Government of the United States would be glad to be informed, if possible before the beginning of such conversations, what in a general way the Chilean Government would expect the United States to grant Chile in a trade agreement; what in a general way the Chilean Government contemplates offering the United States in regard to tariff concessions; and particularly what kind of program the Chilean Government has in mind with regard to equality of application of trade and exchange control measures to American trade.

Concerning the statement in the aide-mémoire which refers to an agreement tending to ‘develop and balance reciprocal interchange’, the Government of the United States assumes that any arrangement which would be considered by the two Governments would be in harmony with Resolutions XLIV and XLVI adopted at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace at Buenos Aires last December,¹⁹ and Resolution No. V, on economic, commercial and tariff policy, approved by the Seventh International Conference of American States at Montevideo.”²⁰

The Department requests that in your conversations on the subject with officials of the Chilean Government you make it clear that, as that Government is aware, the Government of the United States is definitely opposed to bilateral agreements seeking to balance trade and payments as between two countries and that it would, therefore, not be disposed to discuss balances of trade and of payments as a basis for any trade agreement.

Hull

18. Not printed.
18. Not printed.
19. Resolution XLIV, Equality of Treatment in International Trade, and Resolution XLVI, Restrictions on International Trade, Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 1–23, 1936 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1937), pp. 240 and 242.
20. Report of the Delegates of the United States of America to the Seventh International Conference of American States, Montevideo, Uruguay, December 3–26, 1933 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1934), p. 196.