611.60F31/110
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The Minister of Czechoslovakia came in and brought up the question of a proposed trade agreement between our countries. He said that he had cut his vacation short in order to come back to Washington for the purpose of seeing if the preliminary or other difficulties relative to the proposed negotiations could not be ironed out; and that possibly he would then return to his own country and deal with the desiderata.
I replied that naturally we felt towards his country just as we did toward all other first class nations, including both those with whom we had begun trade agreement conversations and those we had not yet reached for that purpose, such as the British and others. I added that there had been and in fact still were more or less complications in connection with the trade situation between our two countries; that it was my understanding that the complications Czechoslovakia was having, in the way of what his Government deemed necessary discriminatory practices at times and to more or less extent, had grown principally out of general economic complications and conditions in Europe; that in any event this Government was obliged to take notice of them as they affected it; and that at present we were making, and for a time would continue to make, a special study of the important problems presented by the Czechoslovakian trade methods and practices, with the view to preparing the ground for actual negotiations with his Government. I said that we had not yet completed these studies, but as soon as we did that we should then be glad to notify him of the outcome, and of course we hoped it might be favorable to the taking up of negotiations.