Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, The American Republics, Volume V

611.2231/54

The Ecuadoran Legation to the Department of State¹⁸

undated

[Translation]

The Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Ecuador agree to conclude the following Trade Agreement:

1. With respect to import and export duties and other imposts and charges affecting commerce, as well as with regard to transit, warehousing and other facilities, the United States of America shall accord to the Republic of Ecuador and the Republic of Ecuador shall accord to the United States of America, its Territories and Possessions unconditional most-favored-nation treatment.

2. It is therefore understood that with respect to the customs duties in existence or which are related to importation and exportation, to the method adopted in the imposition of such duties or taxes, to all the rules and formalities in connection with importation and exportation; to the laws or regulations which affect the sale or use within the country of imported articles; any advantage, favor, privilege or exemption, which the United States of America or the Republic of Ecuador may have granted or may in the future grant to any article originating in or destined to a third country, shall immediately and unconditionally be granted to the similar articles originating in or destined for the Republic of Ecuador or the United States of America, respectively.

3. The Republic of Ecuador also grants to the United States of America its preferential tariff, insofar as the requirements indicated by the Executive Decree, which created the said tariff, have been fulfilled.

4. It is understood that the advantages now granted or which may in the future be granted by the United States of America, its Territories or Possessions, the Philippine Islands or the Panama Canal Zone, among themselves, or to the Republic of Cuba, shall be excepted from this Agreement.

5. Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted as a limitation on the right of the two countries to establish in the terms which they may consider fit, provisions or restrictions based on moral or humanitarian principles, for the purpose of protecting human, animal or plant life; relative to prison-made articles, to the execution of police or revenue laws; and to the control of exportation or sale for exportation of arms, munitions, or implements of war, and under exceptional circumstances of any kind of military furnishings.

6. This Agreement shall begin to work its effects on the . . . . . . . and shall continue in force until replaced by a broader Commercial Agreement, or by a definitive treaty of commerce and navigation, or until it is denounced by either of the two countries by written notice at least thirty days in advance.

18. Spanish text of the proposed commercial modus vivendi handed to the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs by the Ecuadoran Minister, April 20, 1936.