611.4131/114
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Sayre)
The British Ambassador1 called in order to make inquiries and to discuss with me informally such ideas as I might have in mind with respect to a possible trade agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States. He asked whether I had stopped in England during my trip last summer and, when I said no, expressed regret, saying he had hoped that I might be able to talk informally with Mr. Runciman.2 He said that he had talked with Mr. Runciman himself during the summer with reference to a possible trade agreement but that Mr. Runciman had no constructive suggestions to offer and that Mr. Runciman’s attitude was not to take the initiative himself but to entertain sympathetically any approaches which we might make.
I told the Ambassador that I had nothing to say to him as an official of the State Department; but that, speaking to him very confidentially, I felt that a trade agreement between the United Kingdom and ourselves should be one of the most important items in our program. I told him that I had had a group of men at work during the summer exploring various possibilities and had devoted considerable time and thought myself to the matter. I told him confidentially that it had been my hope that we might be able to find some formula to use as the basis of a plurilateral convention for the liberalizing of trade and removing harrassing restrictions which now exist. I suggested that we would not want to propose such an agreement without consulting the United Kingdom and finding some formula which would prove practicable and attractive from his country’s standpoint. I went on to say that thus far we had not succeeded in finding any thoroughly satisfactory basis for such a convention. I said that we were exploring [Page 798] several possibilities but that the problem was made very much more difficult by the existence of the Ottawa Agreements3 and by the British agricultural policy being pursued by Mr. Elliott.4 I said that although we were not yet prepared to offer any definite suggestions we were exploring possibilities along several different lines, one of which is the suggestion of a plurilateral convention providing that the duties should be lowered, say 20 per cent, on each commodity which is supplied mainly by the signatories of the proposed convention. I said, however, that we were still exploring various possibilities and that perhaps the best course to pursue would be to continue this exploratory work and, after we had reached some definite conclusions, to talk again with the Ambassador, perhaps laying before the British Government several possible bases upon which to work out a trade agreement and asking them to suggest which of the several possibilities would be from their viewpoint the more practical and promising for a possible trade agreement. I told the Ambassador that I have had the very genuine desire and wish to find some formula along which we could negotiate a mutually profitable trade agreement and that I should continue my efforts in this direction. The Ambassador left with an expression of appreciation for the frank way in which I laid this matter before him and reciprocated the hope that we might be able to find a way of effectuating a mutually advantageous trade agreement.