825.5151/401
The Ambassador in Chile (Philip) to
the Secretary of State
No. 628
Santiago, June 16, 1937.
[Received June
22.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the Department’s Instruction No. 231 of the 8th instant
expressing approval of my note to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of May
17th last, respecting the treatment being accorded by the Exchange
Control Commission of Chile to importations from the United States.
The Department’s intimation that it desires any formal notes on this
subject from the Embassy to be referred to it prior to delivery will be
strictly complied with in the future.
[Page 435]
In this connection I beg to transmit herewith a copy and translation of a
note received from the Foreign Minister, dated the 11th instant, which
is in reply to my note referred to by the Department.
I hope the fact that Don José Ramón Gutiérrez not only affirms that the
importation of commercial aircraft may be effected by means of export
drafts but that every effort will be made to lessen the exchange
difficulties to which imports from the United States are subjected may
be the cause of satisfaction to the Department.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Chilean Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Gutiérrez
Alliende) to the American
Ambassador (Philip)
No. 4878
Santiago, June 11, 1937.
Mr. Ambassador: Your Excellency has seen
fit, in Note No. 469 of May 17th last, to refer to the situation of
that merchandise imported from the United States which the Exchange
Control Commission classifies as luxury articles, permitting their
entry into the country only against exchange arising from Placer
Mines gold.
After recalling the position expressed in the Note of November 6,
1936,—that as long as the special rate of 35 pesos per dollar is
maintained, Your Excellency’s Government has no course other than to
regard it as discriminatory against the commerce of the United
States,—Your Excellency states that you have recently been informed
that the Exchange Commission, having been consulted upon the
importation of commercial airplanes, replied that this permission
would be granted subject to said Placer Gold exchange. For this
reason Your Excellency manifests your concern due to this apparent
tendency to augment the list of articles which require payment in
gold, for which you believe the availabilities to be insufficient
as, according to information received by Your Excellency, deliveries
of gold exchange are delayed three or four months. Your Excellency
ends by requesting me to inform you in this regard and by suggesting
that the situation referred to might be ameliorated by transferring
several articles which are now on the gold list to (the list of)
those payable in export draft exchange.
In reply, I take pleasure in informing Your Excellency that I have
given careful consideration to the problems which Your Excellency
has mentioned and which have been a cause of concern to this
Chancery for some time, so as to find a just and harmonious solution
which would make possible a definite arrangement, as I had the honor
to [Page 436] state to Your
Excellency in the Aide-Mémoire of the 29th of
April last. While we continue our efforts to find the formula which
would satisfy these desires, I have at present the honor to inform
Your Excellency that the Exchange Control Commission, in answer to
the specific requests embodied in Your Excellency’s note now being
answered, has stated to this Ministry that it has not established
that importations of commercial airplanes from the United States
must be covered with Placer Mines gold, but to the contrary that it
is disposed to authorize these importations with export draft
exchange.
I also take pleasure in informing Your Excellency that the Exchange
Commission has adopted extraordinary measures to bring up to date,
within the first weeks of this month, all pending requests to be
covered with this exchange. That Your Excellency may be more fully
informed, I enclose a list58 of the merchandise the importation of which
should be covered with Placer Mines gold.
Your Excellency has done well in stating that he is assured of the
desire of the Government of the Republic of Chile to facilitate in
every way its commercial relations with the United States. These are
precisely the aims which govern it, and I shall be most happy if my
personal action in this Ministry contributes to the establishment of
the solutions which we seek and which, for mutual benefit, should
eliminate the difficulties of reciprocal interchange which have
arisen as a result of the anomalous conditions which world commerce
has had to face up to the present time.
I avail myself [etc.]
