611.6731/529: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (MacMurray) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:30 p.m.]
14. Embassy’s telegram No. 12, February 27, 6 p.m.19 Chief of Turkish delegation informed us today that Cabinet had approved [Page 863] signature of trade agreement and that there would be no difficulty with regard to the changes desired by the Department. But he felt morally bound to bring to our attention that the Turkish Government, with a view to conserving purchasing power for essential commodities, contemplated in the very near future prohibiting or placing a prohibitive duty on the importation of a large number of what it considered to be non-essential articles. He said that among the articles under consideration were the following contained in our proposed schedule I: canned salmon, canned corn, dried prunes, canned pineapples, and prunes and pineapple and prune juice, canned sweet potatoes, canned asparagus, chewing gum and rubber toys. He pointed out that the total importation of these articles from the United States is very small and that the new tariff measure would affect other countries far more than the United States. He had no objection to leaving the above-mentioned articles in schedule I on the understanding that prohibitive tariff increases might be imposed on them in the very near future.
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