Staggered by the losses which American foreign trade has suffered during his administration, President Roosevelt in a message to the National Foreign Trade Convention, announced his sincere intention to seek unified action in breaking down the artificial tariff barriers which now thwart the healthy exchange of commodities. Any successful rehabilitation of American commerce must consider the South American market, a rich market long closed to American industry by the enterprize of German and British merchants and the stupidity of Washington diplomacy.

During the opening years of the twentieth century, British and German commercial interests secured a dominating position in the markets of South America. Supported by a cunning diplomatic policy, and seeing the vast possibilities of the virgin forests and rugged Andes, foreign capital began to develop these resources and to divert the ever increasing flow of trade to their own countries. Not until the third decade of this century did American interests begin to concentrate attention on the possibilities of the Latin market and to demand diplomatic assistance in the form of favorable tariff agreements. Yet the majority of these negotiations failed to achieve any satisfactory results because the state department refused to enter into reciprocal tariff arrangements. Today, the South American countries demand that trade be conducted on a reciprocal basis, and there is substantial evidence that the grant of preferential treatment by Great Britain has diverted much of Argentine trade from United States to England.

The foreign trade of South America is worth several billions of dollars. Trade agreements, such as the president is authorized to make under the Trade Agreements Act, will go far in aiding American industry to secure a substantial portion of this valuable commerce.