660F.116/166
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Czechoslovakia (Wright)
Sir: There are enclosed copies of two letters dated May 14 and May 15, 1935,19 with an enclosure, from Mr. Norman Draper, Director of the Washington Office, Institute of American Meat Packers, in which complaint is made against a Czechoslovak Government requirement that importers of American lard may import such lard on condition that similar amounts are purchased in certain third countries.
I wish you would look into this matter and see whether it would not be possible to have this condition withdrawn so that American importers of lard may import their quota allotments without reference to purchases in any other country. A restrictive system of this sort seems to me to involve a rather vicious principle which, if extended to trade in general, could have as its result, only the further hampering of international trade. It is my feeling that so long as Czechoslovakia finds it necessary to place quota restrictions on the importation of lard or any other commodity, the quota assigned the United States should be proportionately allocated and should not be subjected to conditions other than the usual customs and administrative regulations.
Please take up this matter informally with the appropriate authorities with a view to seeing whether some satisfactory arrangement cannot be worked out.
Very truly yours,
- Neither printed.↩