Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Remarks at the Airport in Sao Paulo Upon Leaving for Rio de Janeiro.

February 25, 1960

Mr. President, Governor, and citizens of Sao Paulo:

As I say a friendly farewell to the leaders and people of Sao Paulo, I want to express my warm thanks for the cordial welcome and the many courtesies which have been extended to my associates and me during our short stay here.

I was greatly impressed by what I was able to see of your magnificent city during the day. Sao Paulo, leader in Brazilian commerce and industry, is surely characterized by energy, growth, and the spirit of progress.

You receive here each year vast quantities of goods, especially capital goods, from the United States, and of course you ship a tremendous volume of products, especially coffee, to the United States. The two-way trade of the United States and Brazil has long been of high importance to both countries. We are your major consumer; you a major customer of ours. I am glad to have learned in my conversations here today that there is a minimum of friction in these trade matters. And this is good news.

I might point out that we of the United States are the most insatiable coffee drinkers in the world--indeed, we buy nearly 60 percent of your coffee exports. And I doubt that you would have a surplus here if you drank as much coffee as we do.

On leaving Sao Paulo, I want to say how happy I am to have met Governor Carvalho Pinto, the state and municipal authorities, and to have been privileged to make a personal visit to this tremendous city.

Thank you again, sincerely, for your cordiality, your kindness, and your hospitality.

Note: The President's opening words "Mr. President" referred to President Kubitschek who accompanied him on the return flight to Rio de Janeiro.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks at the Airport in Sao Paulo Upon Leaving for Rio de Janeiro. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235074

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