Office of the Historian

611.613 Coal/20

The Soviet Embassy to the Department of State 54

undated

Memorandum

During last year’s conversations regarding the tax on coal imported from the U. S. S. R. into the United States,55 the Department of State indicated to us that the exemption which was granted Holland could not be extended to us since Holland received this exemption not through a trade treaty but because Holland imports more American coal than it exports of its own to the United States.

Meanwhile, according to the explanation of the Treasury Department given to the firm of “Curtis & Belknap,”56 Dutch coal was freed from duty not by a special law but because of a special trade treaty with Holland (1935, article l),57 and independent of the existence or not of a favorable trade balance in coal for the United States.

The viewpoint of the Treasury Department is confirmed in that the customs figures of the United States for ten months of 1936 show that the United States exported no coal whatsoever to Holland during this period and that import of coal from Holland into the United States amounted to $10,500,000.

The facts indicated show that the exemption of Holland from the duty on coal was made because of a special treaty with it, and therefore the exempting of the coal from duty should be extended as well to the U. S. S. R.

The Embassy of the U. S. S. R. would appreciate it if the Department of State would make these facts clear to the Treasury Department.

  1. Handed by the Soviet Ambassador to Assistant Secretary of State Moore on February 3, 1937.↩
  2. Duty was levied at the rate of 10 cents per 100 pounds in accordance with section 601 (c) (5) of the Revenue Act of 1932 (47 Stat. 169, 259).↩
  3. The General Counsel of the Treasury Department, Herman Oliphant, wrote to Curtis & Belknap, 61 Broadway, New York, N. Y., on September 5, 1936, stating that after consideration the Department had decided that coal of all sizes and grades, except culm and duff, would be entitled to enter the United States from the Netherlands without payment of the excise tax, in view of article I of the trade agreement with the Netherlands, as long as all existing factors remained unchanged.↩
  4. For text of the agreement with the Netherlands signed December 20, 1935, see Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 100, or 50 Stat. 1504.↩