611.5831/50: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Sweden (Steinhardt)
25. I asked the Swedish Chargé d’Affaires1 to call today and discussed with him the idea of exploring the possibilities of a reciprocal trade agreement and told him that Sweden so far was the only European country we were approaching, although we might soon approach Portugal. I referred to Boström’s2 repeated overtures and explained that the conversations I had in mind would be purely informal, preliminary, and of an exploratory nature. Formal negotiations would only follow if both countries agreed that such negotiations would be mutually beneficial. I said I was sure that the commercial situation existing between the two countries would enable us to reach a satisfactory exchange of items without difficulty.
I asked the Chargé d’Affaires to cable his Government of our willingness to begin the discussions at once and added that I would inform you of our conversation.