Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1933, General, Volume I

550.S1 Economic Commission/13: Telegram

President Roosevelt to the Acting Secretary of State ²¹

U. S. S. “Indianapolis,” July 4, 1933—3 p.m.
[Received 5:18 p.m.]

24. For Hull and Delegation. Will cable you more at length about tariffs tomorrow but as a preliminary I send you the following thoughts.

• 1st. I think you can make definite offer to any nation to discuss with us reciprocal tariff agreements²² in Washington at their convenience.
• 2d. Would it be possible to work out a formula for an extension of tariff truce and for tariff adjustments downward basing this on (a) the only changes in existing schedules could be made by a surcharge or rebate that would be automatically added or deducted to offset fluctuations of exchange during period in which we are working toward more stable conditions; (b) the standard tariff on which this surcharge or rebate is based should be founded on thought that as to manufactured goods it should not in any case be a complete embargo but should be low enough to allow some goods to enter even if the percentage these bear to a nation’s own production is as low as 2 or 3 percent; (c) as to agricultural and raw metal products I hope we can press for international production limitations on as many products as possible even if such agreements are made on experimental oasis for a limited period.

I think it vital for our whole delegation to stress the many things of world importance which the Conference can accomplish and that a defeatist attitude just because temporary gold stabilization is overboard is a serious responsibility for any nation to assume. I hope Great Britain and most of the smaller nations will go along with us in our sincere efforts.

Roosevelt

21. Repeated to the Chairman of the American delegation as telegram No. 103, July 4, 11 p.m.
22. For correspondence relating to reciprocal trade agreement policy, see pp. 921 ff; for bilateral negotiations with individual countries, see vol. ii under Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, vol. ii under Argentina, and vol. v under Brazil and Colombia.