Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, The American Republics, Volume VII

631.116/69: Airgram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Venezuela (Flack)

Washington, February 19, 1944—5 p.m.

A–107. The Department refers to instruction no. 2394 of February 14, 1944,¹⁴ transmitting a memorandum of conversation with Minister of Finance Rodolfo Rojas and Señor Perez Guerrero¹⁵ regarding among other things the alleged practice of limiting or prohibiting certain imports through the denial of Import Permits and Import Recommendations, and a letter in this regard from the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

The Department, as well as other agencies of the Government, have now received a letter from the Foreign Credit Interchange Bureau of New York¹⁶ transmitting a resolution adopted by the Bureau’s Drug and Chemical Export Club protesting vigorously the actions of the Venezuelan Commission which adversely affect United States export trade with Venezuela; copy of this resolution is being sent to Embassy via air mail pouch.¹⁷

Reference is also made to the Department’s circular telegram of February 12, 3 p.m.¹⁸ concerning the matter of roll-backs in the Decentralization Plan.

The attitude of the Venezuelan Import Control Commission, as reported in the Embassy’s Despatch No. 5157 of November 30, 1943 and Airgram No. A–21 of January 10, 1944¹⁹ in utilizing its authority for purposes alien to those of the Decentralization Program is a source of serious concern to the Department, as well as to members of the export trade.

In this connection it will be recalled that, since the outbreak of the war, this Government has exerted constant effort to assure that the other American republics, including Venezuela, would receive a fair share of goods in short supply in the United States. The system of decentralized export control was developed in the same spirit of equity, after a period of experiment with other methods, in order to give the other governments more direct participation in determining the types of goods for which the limited shipping space available might be utilized.

In view of the considerations which led to the establishment of decentralized export control, it would be most unfortunate if this procedure were now to be converted into a means of controlling trade to an extent not warranted by either shipping conditions or the supply situation in this country.

In addition to the foregoing considerations, the general provisions of the reciprocal trade agreement with Venezuela²⁰ provide generally that no quantitative restrictions shall be imposed on the importation from the United States of products included in Schedule I. It is recognized, of course, that wartime exigencies must prevail over commitments in the trade agreement between the United States and Venezuela even though this is not specifically provided for in the agreement. It is the opinion of the Government of the United States, however, that war conditions of shipping or supply should not be used as a reason for the imposition of trade restrictions which are not in fact warranted by such conditions. With regard to products imported into this country from the other American republics during the war period, it may be noted that the Government of the United States has acted in accordance with the belief that emergency powers should not, in the absence of considerations such as shipping or supply, growing directly out of war conditions, be used as a means of restricting imports for protective or other purposes. Likewise, such restrictions on imports would clearly be inconsistent with the spirit if not the letter of trade agreement provisions.

It is anticipated that as an easing of war exigencies may permit the production of larger supplies of civilian goods and more shipping space will be available for normal inter-American trade, it may be possible to relax various wartime restrictions on such trade. It is hoped that the Government of Venezuela shares the view of the Government of the United States as to the desirability of relaxing such restrictions at the earliest possible date.

It is requested that the Embassy bring the foregoing views to the attention of the appropriate Venezuelan authorities informally during its discussion of roll-backs in the Decentralization Plan, making reference to the conversations with Rojas and Guerrero held in Washington.

The Embassy is requested to keep the Department fully and promptly informed as to the progress of these conversations.

Stettinius

14. Not printed.
15. President Medina’s secretary on his trip to the United States.
16. National Association of Credit Men.
17. Copy of letter, dated February 7, 1944, and resolution transmitted to Caracas in instruction 2410, February 24, not printed.
18. Ante, p. 738.
19. Neither printed.
20. Signed at Caracas November 6, 1939, Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 180; 54 Stat. (pt. 2) 2375.