469. Telegram 4659 From the Embassy in Mexico to the Department of State1 2
Subject:
- Second Message Dated August 16, 1971 From President Echeverria to President Nixon
Ref:
- Mexico’s 4658
1. At my meeting early this afternoon with President Echeverria (reftel) he gave me copy of his second letter to President Nixon dated August 16, 1971, which Secretary of Industry and Commerce Torres Manzo is carrying with him to Washington this evening for his meetings with USG officials August 18. Free translation is as follows:
2. Begin text:
Mexico, D.F. August 16, 1971
Dear Mr. President:
I reiterate my appreciation for the personal communication which you were kind enough to send me regarding the measures included in the economic program of your government, announced last Sunday. As I mentioned in my telegram of today, the Secretary of Industry and Commerce, head of the high level Mexican delegation which I am sending to Washington, is the bearer not only of a message of understanding, but also of the intense preoccupation of my government with regard to the repercussions which the measures [Page 2] adopted might have on the exports of merchandise and the receipts on Mexican holdings, which could be the cause of serious occupational problems and even of a social nature due to the diffusion and transcendence of the economic relations of Mexico with its neighboring country, the United States.
Mexico, up to now has been better able to contend with problems of a social character than other developing countries, thanks to exchange stability and its consequent reflection in the stability of prices and upon national economic development.
I would greatly appreciate it if you and your collaborators give to the above mentioned factors all the importance they deserve in judging the exceptions to the new regime which has been imposed, which should be the object of Mexico’s foreign commerce with your country.
With cordial greetings,
Licenciado Luis Echeverria
End text
3. President Echeverria requested that this letter not be released to press.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL MEX–US. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Telegram 4658 from Mexico City, August 17, contained an August 17 message to Nixon, in which Echeverría indicated that a Mexican delegation would be sent to Washington to discuss the effects of the 10 percent surcharge. (Ibid.)↩
- The Embassy transmitted an August 16 letter from President Echeverría to President Nixon, dealing with the recently announced 10 percent surcharge on all U.S. imports. Echeverría told President Nixon that the new tax might have a seriously negative social and economic impact on Mexico.↩