550.S1 Economic Commission/48: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation (Hull) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received July 18—8:24 p.m.]
149. Department’s 153 [155?], July 17, 9 p.m. [midnight?]. Sugar discussions going forward promisingly in the subcommittee.
The delegation has explained to the subcommittee and to Ferrara that until the discussions now going on in Washington are ended the position of the American Government cannot be conclusively presented. They were informed further in accordance with your instruction that the American Government sympathizes with the general effort and considers the draft plan a satisfactory basis of discussion. Ferrara said that if the subcommittee did not complete its formulation of the plan before disbanding the whole project would be lost. He stated that it was not expected that the American Government could at this moment actually obligate itself to sign the agreement. He asked whether it would be possible for the American Government to make a formal statement along the following lines:
“The American Government is in sympathetic accord with the project now under consideration for an international agreement for the better coordination of the production and marketing of sugar. It regards the draft that is now being worked on as a promising basis for discussion.
The American Government is even now conducting discussions in Washington for a plan for the allocation of the American market [Page 725] which it believes to be in accord with the broader agreement. Until these negotiations in Washington are ended the American Government cannot conclusively state what commitments it can undertake but will endeavor to do so at the earliest possible moment”.
Under the terms of the tentative agreement which is being elaborated now the British home-grown sugar is to be limited to 500,000 tons for the first 2 years and thereafter the permitted increase will be at the same rate as that allowed for the United States. Kindly instruct as promptly as possible.