Rafael L. Trujillo and Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, U.S.A., signed this treaty on September 24, 1940. This treaty came about as a result of the "Good Neighbor Policy" introduced by Franklyn D. Roosevelt in 1933. It returned control of Dominican Customs back to the Dominican government. Until then, Dominican Customs Offices had been under the administration and control of the U.S. Government.