632.6231/237: Telegram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 3—12:18 a.m.]
115. My telegram No. 112.31 The Minister for Foreign Affairs tells me this evening that owing to pressure from German and interested Brazilian sources he has been compelled to give up his idea of a 6 months’ agreement. He now agrees with the Minister of Finance.
The proposed quotas follow: Coffee, 1,000,000 bags valued at 196,000 contos, as against 1,128,000 bags valued at 184,000 contos in 1936; cotton, 62,000 tons valued at 248,000 contos, as against 41,403 tons valued at 194,980 contos in 1936 (all other products exported last year amounted to 266,620 contos comprising 27 items, no single item being more than 7% of the total exportation). A definite commitment will be obtained from Germany against any direct subsidy in their exports to Brazil. The Minister remarked that it had been his intention to give this information to the German Chargé d’Affaires [Page 341] tonight. He has now promised to delay doing it. An expression of the Department’s opinion in the premises will be helpful to me.