166/1011a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Italy (Long)28
200. With a view of achieving uniformity of procedure you are requested to instruct the supervising Consul General at Naples to notify Consulates in Italy that all activities in connection with trade promotion should be suspended until such time as the policy set forth in the President’s statements of October 5 and October 30 and my statements of October 10 and October 30 are no longer applicable to existing circumstances.
Trade letters received from American exporters should be acknowledged with a statement that conforming with this Government’s announced policy the Department of State cannot facilitate trade with the belligerents. Similar action should be taken in connection with verbal inquiries for agency connections.
The Department should be kept fully informed of all proposals of Italian interests to enter into commercial transactions with American interests.
The Department of Commerce has been consulted and identic instructions are being sent by that Department to the Commercial Attaché. Although it is essential that these instructions be scrupulously observed, it is not the Department’s wish that the impression be gained that there is anything new in their character or that they go beyond the stated position of this Government. Insofar as possible these instructions should be treated as administrative routine and be treated confidentially.
- A similar telegram was sent to the Minister Resident in Ethiopia as Department’s No. 107, November 13, 5 p.m.↩