633.113/27
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Uruguay ( Lay )
Sir: The Department acknowledges the receipt of your despatch No. 297 of August 13, 1936, in which you report that you are informed by a local importer that the Uruguayan Government is contemplating increasing customs duties on galvanized iron. You inquire whether the Department would approve of your informally and verbally pointing out to the Uruguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs that the contemplated increase would not seem to be in accord with the principles established in the Resolution on the future Economic, Commercial and Tariff Policy adopted by the Seventh International Conference of American States at Montevideo in 1933.
If discreet investigation should reveal that this report is founded and it appears likely that the Uruguayan Government will give favorable consideration to the proposed increase in customs duties on galvanized iron, you may, if you believe such action advisable, informally express to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the hope of this Government that such action will at least be suspended until after the forth-coming Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace18 when all the nations of this hemisphere will have had the opportunity of consulting jointly for the purpose of promoting their mutual interests and of giving effective consideration to the problem of arresting the imposition of barriers to mutually profitable trade.
Very truly yours,