811.20 Defense (M)/1579: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Armour) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:36 p.m.]
277. Embassy’s despatch 2140, March 21, and telegram 225, March 22, 5 p.m.; and 259, April 2, 6 p.m.75 A memorandum dated March 31 was received today from the Foreign Office in reply to Embassy’s memorandum of March 14 inquiring whether the Argentine Government would be disposed to create an organization to supply the Metals Reserve Company with such part of the Argentine production of tungsten [Page 361] as cannot be obtained through the usual commercial channels. The Chancellery’s note states that [“]the Argentine Government sees no objection to the acquisition by the Government of the United States of our total exportable production of tungsten[”] and that the former would be disposed if necessary to take adequate official steps to promote its production and exportation, always with due respect for constitutional and legal requirements guaranteeing freedom of commerce in this country.
As already reported, the Embassy recommends that the purchase program be not deferred until a Government entity can be created since even in the light of the responsiveness of the above reply considerable delay is inevitable and in the meantime the proportion of the Argentine production bought or contracted for by the Japanese is increasing. It will be observed that the reply does not state categorically whether measures will be taken to reserve the total production for export to the United States.
- Telegrams Nos. 225 and 259 not printed.↩