711.522/40: Telegram
The Ambassador in Spain ( Moore ) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 15—6 p.m.]
48. Embassy’s no. 46, June 12, and Department’s no. 30, June 13.
From Hackworth:
The statement referring to section 317 of the tariff act had already been made use of at the conference on June 12.
On June 14 at the conference held that date Lago stated that he had not seen the Foreign Minister since the previous conference, but that he and his Bureau of Accounts would begin to study the treaty and would give us their views on it at the meeting with the whole treaty commission within the next two weeks. Lago again went over the statement made at the previous conference on the most-favored-nation clause and indirectly suggested the substitution of a schedule of articles as was done in the British treaty.10 Component parts of recent treaties would be considered. He stated that the British had proposed a most-favored-nation article that was almost identical with ours, but that they had been required to substitute a schedule.
It seems probable that to stand for general most-favored-nation treatment may jeopard the chances for an early treaty but that what in practice would be the same may be obtained through a schedule made up from the French, British, and possibly other treaties together with stipulations analogous to those in article 5 of the British treaty. If this suggestion meets with the Department’s approval we will begin to prepare a schedule of the sort described in cooperation with the commercial attaché, who is well versed in the needs of American shippers, to be submitted to the Department as a possible basis of negotiation should the general most-favored-nation clause meet unrelenting opposition. Lago maintains that the United States is unable to negotiate on the same footing as the British were able to do for the latter as the purchasers of 50 percent of Spain’s exports enjoy a favored position.
The draft of the treaty on liquor stores and cargo was submitted June 13.
- See Great Britain, Cmd. 2188, Treaty Series No. 21 (1924): Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between the United Kingdom and Spain, Signed at Madrid, October 31, 1922. ↩