611.2231/99

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Ecuador ( Sparks )

No. 205

Sir: I have received your strictly confidential despatch No. 660 of January 8, 1937, reporting a conversation which you had with Dr. Francisco Banda, Chief of the Commercial and Consular Section of the Ecuadoran Foreign Office, on the subject of the contemplated trade agreement between this Government and Ecuador.

As you suggested to Dr. Banda, this Government could not consider his proposal that no publicity be given to the tariff concessions which Ecuador may grant this Government in the agreement.

With regard to Doctor Banda’s remarks concerning Ecuador’s desire not to extend to other nations the concessions which it may make us in the agreement, the Department regards this as a matter which the Ecuadoran Government itself must decide. If the subject is brought up again, I believe it would be entirely proper for you orally to review this Government’s practice of generalizing concessions made in trade agreements. This practice is in accord with the most-favored-nation policy which this Government espouses and to which it adheres in its commercial relations with other countries of the world. It is my understanding that Ecuador seconded the efforts which this Government made in favor of the principle of equality of treatment at the Pan American Conference held in Montevideo in 193335 and at the Inter-American Peace Conference which recently convened in Buenos Aires.36 It is therefore assumed that in general Ecuador likewise is convinced of the advantages of such a policy. From an immediate and narrow point of view it would sometimes seem to be desirable from the point of view of our trade if concessions made to the United States were withheld from certain other countries, thus giving American products a preferential tariff position. It is the considered opinion of this Government, however, that such apparent advantages are both transitory and illusory, since they cannot compensate for the great damage to our trade as a whole which would result from the abandonment on a larger scale of equality of treatment.

In the light of these circumstances this Government cannot help but hope that Ecuador will see fit to follow an analogous procedure, [Page 491] even though, as stated before, this is naturally a matter which Ecuador must decide for itself.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
Francis B. Sayre
  1. Resolution V, Economic, Commercial, and Tariff Policy, Report of the Delegates of the United States of America to the Seventh International Conference of American States, Montevideo, Uruguay, December 8–26, 1933 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1934), p. 196.
  2. Resolution XLIV, Equality of Treatment in International Trade, Report of the Delegation of the United States of America to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace, Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 1–23, 1986 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1937), p. 240.