635.4131/158
The Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell) to the Secretary of
State
No. 90
Buenos
Aires, November 10, 1933.
[Received
November 20.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose for the
Department’s information a copy of a letter received from the Argentine
Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated November 8, 1933, together with a
translation thereof, in which the Minister for Foreign Affairs makes
known that the provisions of the commercial agreement between the
Argentine Republic and Great Britain are extended to merchandise
enumerated in the annexes to the agreement without regard to the country
of origin, etc. The Minister adds that despite the foregoing, his
Government maintains its previously expressed interpretation that the
most-favored-nation clause existing in our Treaty of 1853 with Argentina
is of a conditional character, adding that “This generalization is made
while awaiting a new commercial agreement which may be of such great
benefit to our reciprocal interests.”
Perhaps this note may be considered as an acknowledgment of the Embassy’s
note of June 9, 1933, to which hitherto no reply has been made.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Argentine Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Saavedra
Lamas) to the American
Ambassador (Weddell)
Buenos
Aires, November 8, 1933.
Mr. Ambassador: I have the honor to inform
Your Excellency that the Commercial Agreement between the Argentine
Republic and the
[Page 722]
United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, approved by the
Honorable Congress by law 11823, has been extended in its effects by
decree issued on the 6th inst., to merchandise enumerated in the
annexes of the Agreement, whatever the country of origin be.
I therefore take pleasure in communicating to Your Excellency that
the same rates of appraisal, duties and other provisions contained
in the Anglo-Argentine Agreement, will be extended to similar goods
imported from the United States, in spite of the fact that this
Government maintains its interpretation in the sense that the
most-favored-nation clause stipulated in the Treaty of Friendship,
Commerce and Navigation of July 27, 1853, which binds us to the
country Your Excellency represents, is of a conditional character.
This generalization is made while awaiting a new commercial
agreement which may be of such great benefit to our reciprocal
interests.
I renew [etc.]
