Editorial Note
A Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Economic Development between the United States and Uruguay was signed at Montevideo on November 23, 1949. Formal negotiations began in Montevideo in March 1949 on the basis of a draft submitted by the United States. Among the changes secured by the Uruguayan representatives were modifications in those articles of the treaty that dealt with: expropriation; the application of exchange controls to withdrawals of earnings and capital; and the employment of professional people and technicians from one country in the other. At the request of Uruguay, articles in the draft that covered military service and the submission of certain commercial disputes to international arbitration were omitted entirely, as was a clause that would have tended to discourage legislation requiring participation of capital from the host country in business ventures begun by citizens or companies of the treaty partner. Uruguay introduced an additional article that encouraged tourism.
File 711.332 for 1948 and 1949 has further details of the treaty negotiation, together with successive drafts. The press announcement of the treaty’s signature and a brief analysis of its contents are in the Department of State Bulletin, December 5, 1949, page 866a. For Secretary Acheson’s press statement of November 30, 1949, and President Truman’s letter to President Batlle Berres, released December 3, see ibid., December 12, 1949, page 909. The treaty’s text is contained ibid., September 25, 1950, page 502. (This text has one error; numbered sections of what is printed as Article X should be headed, “Article XI”.)
On January 13, 1950, President Truman submitted the treaty to the United States Senate, which gave its advice and consent to ratification on August 9 of that year. The Uruguayan Parliament has not approved the treaty, which has therefore not gone into effect. File 611.334 has documentation on the treaty for the period after its signature.