765.84/2296: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Egypt ( Fish )
46. Your 88, November 4, 11 a.m. For your strictly confidential information. In view of the policy enunciated in the President’s statement of October 5, 1935,31 the Department is inclined to believe that your mission and the consular offices in Egypt might as a general rule be justified in refraining from intervening on behalf of American nationals who encounter difficulties in Egypt by engaging in trade with Italy or Ethiopia, provided the Egyptian Government does not attempt to invade the rights of such nationals with respect to their immunity from Egyptian jurisdiction. Before adopting any final [Page 591] attitude in the matter, however, the Department considers it essential to ascertain definitely the form which economic sanctions by Egypt may take and the extent to which they may interfere with American capitulatory rights.