853.863/5

The Secretary of State to the Portuguese Minister ( Alte )

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of September 8, 1928, in which, in further relation to the decree of the Portuguese Government of July 23, 1913, you ask whether this Government interprets the most-favored-nation treatment stipulated in the Commercial Agreement between the United States and Portugal of June 28, 1910, as extending to vessels of the one country in the territorial waters of the other the treatment granted by the latter country to vessels of other nations through treaty provisions agreed upon with them.

You will recall that the negotiations which resulted in the Commercial Agreement of 1910 were conducted in view of a provision in the tariff law of 1909 of the United States29 authorizing the extension [Page 794] to any foreign country, under certain conditions, of the benefit of the minimum tariff of the United States when it was shown that such foreign country enforced no import or export conditions or restrictions which unduly discriminated against the United States or the importation or sale of products of the United States, or paid no export bounty or imposed no export duty or prohibition which unduly discriminated against the United States or its products.30

In view of the relationship of the Agreement of 1910 to the Tariff Act, it would appear to be clear that the most-favored-nation treatment stipulated in the Agreement related to charges on commerce. So far as this Department is informed the Agreement has not been considered to apply to consular privileges with respect to matters pertaining to the internal discipline of vessels, which is the subject to which the Portuguese decree of July 23, 1913, and your note of July 27, 1928, relate. The Department takes the view that the Agreement should not be invoked with a view to its application to consular privileges with respect to vessels.

Accept [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
  1. Aug. 5, 1909; 36 Stat. 11.
  2. Sec. 2, 36 Stat. 82.