611.3131/127: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Venezuela (Nicholson)
Washington, October 20, 1937—6
p.m.
58. Your 98 October 15, 6 p.m.24 Your 99 October 19, 6 p.m.
[Page 787]- 1.
- Inform the Foreign Minister that preliminary announcement that negotiations are contemplated will be issued here for publication in morning newspapers Tuesday, October 26.25
- 2.
- In accordance with the customary procedure followed here, the preliminary announcement will state that informal suggestions from the public in this country, concerning products for consideration in connection with the proposed trade agreement with Venezuela, will be received by this Government for a period of 1 month following the date of issuance of such announcement.
- 3.
- As soon as practicable after the close of the aforementioned period, the formal public notice of intention to negotiate a trade agreement with Venezuela will be issued. A list of products on which the United States will consider granting concessions to Venezuela will be published with the formal notice, which fixes the dates for the presentation of written briefs, and for the public hearing.
- 4.
- Therefore, as soon as the preliminary announcement is made, you should ask the Venezuelan Government to submit as soon as possible a list containing descriptions of any products on which it is interested in obtaining concessions. You should point out to the Venezuelan Government, in this connection, that it is the general practice of this Government to limit the concessions which it grants to a country in a trade agreement to products of which that country supplies a principal or important proportion of the total imports of such products into the United States. With this in mind, the list submitted by the Venezuelan Government should be comprehensive and established with as great care as possible since once this Government publishes a list along with the formal public notice, new items cannot be added thereto without the issuance of an additional public announcement giving opportunity for the presentation of briefs and hearings.
- 5.
- You should assure the Foreign Minister that the list of products on which this Government will consider granting concessions to Venezuela will not be published before it has been approved by the Venezuelan Government. It should be clearly understood, however, that the proposed publication of this list in connection with the formal public notice will not constitute a commitment by this Government to grant concessions with respect to all of the products contained therein. The purpose of publishing the list is to give notice to the American public of all products under consideration as possible subjects for the granting of concessions to Venezuela in order that all interested persons may know whether there is occasion for presenting views.
- 6.
- As stated in the penultimate paragraph of the Department’s telegram No. 53, September 30, 3 p.m., the procedure here does not involve this Government’s making public, prior to the conclusion of the agreement, the products on which concessions will be requested from Venezuela.
- 7.
- A tentative list of products on which concessions may be requested from Venezuela is being sent you by air mail. If the Foreign Minister requests it you may give him a copy of that list when he furnishes the above-mentioned list of products on which Venezuela desires concessions. In that event, however, you should explain to the Foreign Minister that it is not possible to give him a definitive list of products or to indicate the nature or extent of the concessions desired thereon prior to the termination of public hearings in this country. Subsequent to such hearings, the Department will provide you with proposed Schedules I and II for use in the negotiations.
Welles