611.3531/172
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs (Wilson)
Ambassador Espil came in and asked when we would be prepared to open our conversations with him regarding a commercial treaty. I said that we had been waiting to hear from him as to the date of arrival of his experts. He said that it was precisely in order to know when to advise his Government to send experts that he wanted to inquire when we would be ready to begin the conversations. I said that I did not know the exact status of our preparation of data for the Argentine conversations, but would inquire of those who had it in charge and advise him. I said that, as he doubtless knew, the Portuguese representatives were arriving in a few days and would be the first to begin negotiations with us.5 The Colombians were arriving a few days later,6 and we were also expecting the Brazilians at an early date.7 Since we had been advised by these Governments of the early arrival of their representatives in Washington for conversations, we had of course concentrated our efforts in preparation for the talks with these countries. I said, however, that we would do everything we could to meet the views of the Argentine Government regarding the date for [Page 649] beginning our conversations with Argentina, although of course it would be appreciated that if the Argentine experts should arrive shortly after we had opened discussions with the other countries we would have our hands very full and there might be some delay.
After talking with Mr. Caffery, Dr. McClure8 and Mr. Donnelly of the Commerce Department, I ’phoned to Ambassador Espil and said that the situation was just as I mentioned it to him earlier. The other countries had, as it were, gotten under the wire first by sending their delegations here at an early date, and we had concentrated on our work to get ready for them. However, whenever the Argentine experts could come here we would do our best to be prepared to enter on discussions with them, although, as I had explained, there might be a little delay in view of the fact that our discussions would have already begun with others. Dr. Espil said that he thought he would suggest that his experts arrive here by the middle of September. He said there would, of course, be no hurry in beginning the discussions, as he would want a little time to go over matters with the experts. He also mentioned that he was looking around to find an American expert to assist him who was thoroughly familiar with our tariff matters.
- See vol. ii, pp. 640 ff.↩
- See vol. v, pp. 217 ff.↩
- See ibid., pp. 13 ff.↩
- Wallace McClure, Assistant Chief of the Treaty Division. Department of State.↩