611.2531/275: Telegram

The Chargé in Chile ( Frost ) to the Secretary of State

35. Supplementing my No. 34 it now appears that British Embassy merely telegraphed the gist of the Chilean exchange proposal, not the text; but with the hope of acceptance by London.

The Department will note that Chilean offer includes most-favorednation provision and supply and demand rate provision asking merely recognition of the fact that the low quotations here on blocked currencies are fixed by the play of the market.

If the offer should be acceptable in the main an understanding can probably be reached within a very few weeks upon which an announcement of intention to negotiate a trade agreement could be based. If not substantially acceptable any future discussions will probably be long drawn out.

Accordingly, unless the Department objects, I propose to leave Friday to visit the nitrate and copper plants and meet Ambassador [Page 442] Armour at Antofogasta on April 4. Trueblood will sign “for the Chargé des Affaires.”

Frost