Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume X, Cuba, January 1961–September 1962

49. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to Senator George A. Smathers⁰

Washington, February 18, 1961.

Dear Senator Smathers: As I promised in my letter of January 10, we have studied the recommendation in your letter of January 7¹ that the provisions of Section 5 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951² be invoked to prevent the importation of all dutiable Cuban exports in order to deprive the Castro regime of as many United States dollars as possible.

In fulfilling its responsibility to ensure a reliable source of sugar for the domestic market, the United States Government has, as you know, already taken the major step of eliminating imports of Cuban sugar, which constituted approximately 70% of Cubaʼs exports to the United States. The principal economic purpose of the application of further measures would, therefore, be to eliminate the remainder of Cubaʼs exports to the United States, consisting mainly of tobacco, molasses, fruits and vegetables. Toward the end of 1960, Cuba was exporting to the United States at the rate of $65,000,000 a year, virtually all of which consisted of dutiable imports. This rate of export represents a reduction by approximately one-half of the rate of exports of these same products during early 1960, and also reflects the degree to which Cuba has altered its traditional trading pattern with the United States by trade with the Sino-Soviet Bloc.

Sharing your serious concern over the nature and policies of the present Cuban Government, the Department has for some time been studying additional measures, including invocation of Section 5 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951, as amended, with a view toward achieving the maximum economic effect while at the same time minimizing undesirable repercussions on our relations with other countries. The complexity of this problem is such as to require further study of economic, legal and foreign policy aspects. I am sorry that I cannot give you a final point of view at this writing.

Sincerely yours,

Dean Rusk

0. Source: Department of State, Rusk Files: Lot 72 D 192, Telephone Conversations, 2/16/61-3/23/61. No classification marking. Senator Smathers was Democratic Senator from Florida.
1. Neither of the letters has been found.
2. Section 5 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951 stipulated the withdrawal of all trade concessions as they applied to imports from the Soviet Union, or any other Communist-controlled country or area; 65 Stat. 72.