611.3531/145
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Caffery)
The Argentine Ambassador called and showed me a telegram he had received from his Government pointing out that the Argentine Government was awaiting a reply from him as to what progress he had been able to make in regard to beginning negotiations for a reciprocal commercial treaty, and inviting attention to his previous reports concerning President Roosevelt’s declarations that he was desirous of entering into a reciprocal commercial treaty with Argentina.
The Argentine Ambassador stated that, up to very recently, he had assumed that the State Department was in favor of beginning these negotiations at an early date. However, he had gathered the impression from a recent conversation with the Under Secretary that perhaps there had been a change of opinion in that regard. The Under Secretary had spoken of early negotiations of a Cuban treaty “and perhaps two or three others”, but implied that it would not be possible to begin negotiations for a reciprocal commercial treaty with the Argentine Government at an early date. Señor Espil said that he had not communicated anything in regard to these remarks of the Under Secretary to his Government, hoping that the impression he received from the conversation with Mr. Phillips was unwarranted. Now, in view of the telegram he has received from his Government, he is anxious to know exactly what the present situation is. He would like to have a brief conversation with the President as soon as possible (in view of the President’s early declarations that he was desirous of proceeding with these negotiations).
In the telegram above mentioned, the Argentine Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the British Government had proposed that the method of computing tariff rates on automobiles be changed to a method basing rates on cylinder capacity. (Señor Espil said that [Page 645] he believed that the present method of computing those rates is favorable to the United States, and that the method proposed by the British would be unfavorable.)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs commented on the fact that during the first five months of this year, United States purchases in the Argentine have reached 16.6 million pesos, while the United States has received foreign exchange in the amount of 107.4 million.