611.4731/141: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Sydney (Moffat)
Your March 4, 5 p.m. Please inform Gullett that we have had constantly in mind the Australian proposals of 19343 and have not ceased to hope that we would eventually be able to negotiate on a reciprocal basis. We regret to inform him, however, that conditions surrounding the products in which Australia is interested have not changed to a point where we could at this time make any undertakings in respect of duty reductions or guaranteed quantities. Consequently, and in view also of Australia’s manifest inability to offer concessions on our products, we fear we shall have to postpone the suggested serious step towards negotiating an agreement.
Please do not fail to enlarge upon the reference to ultimate benefits to Australia from generalization which was made in our January 15, 8 p.m., 1935,4 and to point out that there is after another year of our program even stronger ground for our asserted beliefs about those benefits. It should not be overlooked that increased purchases by the United States in other countries creates credits some of which are used to purchase Australian products in increased quantities. Our program looks ahead to normal multilateral trading which cannot be attained by the abortive bi-lateral stop gaps now so prevalent in the world.