311. Letter From President Ruiz Cortines to President Eisenhower 2
Dear Mr. President: When in August 1954 you decided not to accept the recommendation of the United States Tariff Commission on lead and zinc, you simultaneously expressed the hope that the foreign countries that supply these products to the United States market would not seek to obtain any unfair advantage from the stockpile buying program which you decided to launch at that time.
Mexican public opinion reacted very favorably to that decision of yours, interpreting it as another gesture of understanding and friendship for the Latin American producing countries, especially Mexico, and for Canada. It was very gratifying to me, therefore, to refer to this problem in my annual message to the Congress of Mexico on September 1, 1954, in the following terms:
“President Eisenhower’s decision not to authorize increased duties on lead and zinc has been appreciated at its full value by the Government of Mexico and the Mexican mining industry, because it helps to prevent a worsening of the situation of our mining industry.”
Furthermore, the Mexican mining industry understood that it should not take advantage of the new measures adopted by your Government, because it was convinced that the immediate future of the lead and zinc market was uncertain and should not become further weakened, and because a feeling of human and friendly solidarity made it aware of certain obligations to mine owners and workers of the United States of America. The policy of the Mexican mining industry not to export excessive quantities of lead and zinc that might have helped to make the situation of a certain sector of the United States [Page 823] mining industry even more difficult is apparent from the official data published by the United States Department of Commerce in the series “Imports for Consumption.” These data show that our exports of lead to the United States in 1954, 1955, and 1956 were below those of 1953. Although zinc exports increased a little, it is well to note that this benefited the United States metallurgical industry, since nearly all of the zinc coming from Mexico is made into concentrates that supply large refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. Without those concentrates, these refineries—as was stated by their representatives at the public hearings held in the United States Congress last summer and in the Tariff Commission last November—would have been placed in a very difficult position, for they have been unable to obtain zinc ore in the United States of America.
In any case, if the two metals are taken together—as is done normally—our exports to the United States in the above-mentioned years 1954, 1955, and 1956, were less than the 1953 exports.
The foregoing demonstrates the understanding spirit and cooperation of the lead and zinc industry of Mexico.
The fall in prices on the world markets has been a serious blow to Mexico’s mining industry, which for more than a year has been going through a very grave experience. A number of mines have stopped work; others have cut down; and still others are producing at a very small margin of profit. The possibilities of absorption by the Mexican economy of the workers now unemployed, who already number about 4,000 in round figures (approximately the same figure as in the United States, according to data supplied to the Tariff Commission), are unfortunately limited.
My Government, as well as employers and workers, have fully explained the serious harm to Mexico’s economy that would result from the imposition of new obstacles to the exportation of lead and zinc. Therefore, I do not think it necessary to speak at length on the matter, but I do wish to mention that during the recent Economic Conference at Buenos Aires,3 Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru presented to the United States Delegation a document in which it was pointed out that the tariff increase then being planned would cause the mining activities of those countries “injury in such a manner that in many cases it would be irreparable, in as much as the nature of mining operations does not permit of temporary suspension or appreciable reduction in the volume of ores processed in the foundries.” At that Conference it was persistently pointed out that any measure reducing the volume of foreign exchange available for the purchase of goods [Page 824] abroad harms and limits not only the possibilities of Latin American economic development but also the expansion we all desire in the trade between our countries.
The circumstance that the Congress of the United States ended its session last year without approving the tariff modification was interpreted by public opinion as an encouraging fact, even though we knew very well that the problem was not definitively settled and that the price of lead and zinc dropped considerably in the second half of last year. It can be appreciated without any difficulty that if to the weakness of the market, accentuated in consequence of the economic recession that has been occurring lately, a further restriction should now be added in the United States market, which has traditionally absorbed 40% of our lead and zinc exports, the mining industry and the Government of Mexico would be faced with an even greater problem.
I very well understand your obligation, Mr. President, to watch over the interests of United States miners. I do not know whether, despite various statements to the contrary made by Americans who have testified, the Tariff Commission of the United States might conclude that an increase in the duties would remedy the situation now affecting a part—fortunately a small part—of United States mining interests. I do not consider it appropriate for me to point out the possible merits, from the international standpoint, of certain alternative measures that were suggested during the hearings before the Tariff Commission. But in view of my country’s bounden duty to protect Mexican interests, my colleagues are studying what measures might be adopted in the deplorable event that your Government conclude that there must inevitably be an increase in the import duties on these two metals which together have accounted, during the last ten years, for 50% of our mining production, 32% of our total exports, and, in the form of taxes, 6% of Federal revenues.
Your request for a five-year extension of the reciprocal trade program confirms a healthy trend toward the elimination of unnecessary obstacles to international trade and a spirit of freeing that trade for the benefit of the world economy. Such a spirit nourishes the hopes we cherish for a solution to the problem with which I am here concerned, our hopes being based on the grounds of international solidarity.
I share the confidence you have publicly expressed that the economy of the United States will resume an upward trend within a short time, and even though the mining industry does not have the same elasticity as other industries, we must hope that with the intensification of economic activity it will soon be able to come out of its present difficulties. Nevertheless, I believe that the process for the mining economy would be less damaging and probably shorter if we could find a multilateral solution that would make the implementation of individual measures unnecessary, a solution that would find its support [Page 825] in the ideals of friendship and solidarity on which you and I, Mr. President, want the relations between our two countries to be unvaryingly based. My Government will always be willing to give constructive study to any solutions of this kind.
I take pleasure, Mr. President, in renewing to you the assurances of my most cordial friendship.4
- Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 64 D 174, Ruiz Cortines. The source text is a translation.↩
- For documentation on the Economic Conference of the Organization of American States at Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 15-September 4, 1957, see Foreign Relations, vol. VI, pp. 497 ff.↩
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On March 7, President Eisenhower sent an interim reply to President Ruiz Cortines. In his reply, Eisenhower noted that the United States Tariff Commission had not yet completed its study of the lead and zinc case, and he suggested that it would be unwise to comment prematurely on the matter. He also stated the following:
“I can assure you, however, that the interested Departments of the United States Government, and I, personally, will weigh carefully the points you raise in your letter in considering this entire problem as soon as the Tariff Commission’s report is presented.” (Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 64 D 174, Ruiz Cortines)
The suggested text of Eisenhower’s letter was transmitted to the President under cover of a memorandum from Under Secretary Herter, March 6. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File)
↩ - The translation bears this typed signature.↩