File No. 611.3731/14.
The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister.
Washington, March 21, 1911.
Sir: The Department is in receipt of your No. 637 of February 17 in regard to the bills introduced in the Chamber of Representatives, relative to various modifications in the existing tariff legislation of Cuba.
It does not appear from your dispatch that the Cuban Secretary of State has asked for the views of this Government on the subject. It is proper, however, to put you in possession of them so that you [Page 95] may be able to present them, informally and discreetly, to the Cuban Government as the occasion may arise.
- 1.
- No objection can be made to requesting from this Government the amplification of the existing reciprocity treaty. Whether it would be possible to concede greater advantages for Cuban tobacco can not be indicated in advance, nor in fact can it be assumed that this Government will find it expedient to recommend modifications of the treaty. That would depend upon the sentiment existing in the United States and also in Congress. It is desirable to point out, however, that should circumstances favor the amplification of a treaty, it would be necessary to ask material increases in the preferences now given by Cuba on various manufactured articles, the products of the United States, and especially on textiles. It is also desirable for you to point out to the Cuban Government that under Article IV of the reciprocity treaty with the United States, this country would be entitled to respective reductions of such rates of duty as may hereafter be provided in the customs tariff of Cuba. The customs tariff of the Republic of Cuba must be interpreted as including not only customs levied in accordance with the general tariff bill, but the tariff levied pursuant to the commercial or reciprocity treaties which Cuba may make with other countries. That is, the United States will be entitled to the reductions from the customs tariff in the percentages provided in schedules a, b, and c.
- 2.
- The question of a treaty for the reciprocal protection of trademarks and patents can be considered on its merits at any time.
- 3.
- The proposition to apply a surcharge on the products or merchandise of any nation which has not already concluded a reciprocity treaty with Cuba, or which does not, within six months after the promulgation of this law, make tariff concessions to Cuban manufacturers of tobacco is one that should receive the most careful consideration on the part of the Cuban Government. The complications which would result from Cuba’s entering into a reciprocity treaty with other countries in view of the existing treaty with the United States, and the extreme difficulty of adjusting the Cuban tariff with those of other countries so as not to interfere with the preferences given the United States, have been fully explained in previous instructions.
You will be guided by these instructions. Whether the desire of the Cuban Government to secure better terms for manufactured tobacco from other countries could be made effective by a surcharge without entering into reciprocity treaties with the different countries seems uncertain. The Cuban Government probably can determine this matter from its own standpoint.
I am, etc.,