611.3731/2168: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
13. Your 4, September 22, noon. The restoration of the 90-cent duty on Cuban sugar in the proposed supplemental trade agreement [Page 572] is to be made without reference to any specific amount based upon quota legislation or otherwise. This point was exhaustively discussed both by the Trade Agreements Organization and by other interested officials and the conclusion was reached that the fixing of a tariff quota would be undesirable because (a) it would tend to hamper the attainment of the President’s objective in suspending the quotas, that is to say, a free flow of sugar to the American market from all sources of supply and (b) it would involve administrative and technical difficulties both in Cuba and in the United States.
Arrangements have been made for Mr. Grady to see the President upon his return from Hyde Park on Monday. I appreciate fully that it would be helpful to you in securing the cooperation of the Cubans to give them an idea of the nature of the proposition now under study, but in view of the danger of leakage and of the effect which this would have on the market (and possibly in other directions) we believe it might be wisest for us not to disclose its outlines to them until the President’s decision has been obtained and we are ready to take action.