611.60F31/95
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Trade Agreements (Grady)
When the Czechoslovakian Minister called on me on June 6 to inquire regarding the possibility of an early announcement of a trade agreement with Czechoslovakia, I told him that the matter of announcing additional countries would shortly come up in the Trade Agreements Committee and that I would advise him as to the Committee’s decision. I asked him to call today to inform him that the Trade Agreements Committee felt that our program had not lightened and that it felt that we should make no new announcements of countries for the next month or so. He said that should we wish to announce intention to negotiate with Czechoslovakia next month, the Chargé [Page 149] would cable him in Prague and arrangements could be made for simultaneous announcement there and here.
We then discussed the general purposes and policies underlying our program. The Minister stated that he would ask his experts in Prague to begin the preparation of data so as to save time in the event of a reasonably early announcement of a trade agreement.