611.60d31/136½
Memorandum by Mr. Landreth M. Harrison of the Division of Eastern European Affairs
Dr. von Numers, Secretary of the Finnish Legation, called this morning to present the reply of the Finnish Government to our counter-proposal2 covering the general provisions.
[A small number of minor verbal changes relating to certain articles, and a few proposed eliminations, are here omitted.]
[Page 74]Dr. von Numers added that the reason given by his Government for requesting the elimination of the termination provisions7 was on the grounds that with their inclusion the agreement could become valueless to Finland at any time.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I informed Dr. von Numers that we would examine these requests and furnish the Legation shortly with our replies thereto. He promised that our replies would be cabled to Finland in order to expedite action.
- Not printed.↩
- Certain standard provisions were contained in articles VI, XI, and XIV, whereby under precisely stated conditions the trade agreement could be terminated after a stipulated number of days upon written notice being given by either signatory. In the revised draft of March 24, 1936, articles VI, XI, and XIV, became articles VII, XIII, and XVI, respectively. Article XVI, about which there was some particular correspondence, read as follows: “The Government of the United States of America and the Government of Finland reserve the right to withdraw or to modify the concession granted on any article under this Agreement, or to impose quantitative restrictions on any such article if, as a result of the extension of such concession to third countries, such countries obtain the major benefit of such concession and in consequence thereof an unduly large increase in importations of such article takes place: Provided, That before the Government of either country shall avail itself of the foregoing reservation, it shall give notice in writing to the other Government of its intention to do so, and shall afford such other Government an opportunity within thirty days after receipt of such notice to consult with it in respect of the proposed action; and if an agreement with respect thereto is not reached within thirty days following receipt of the aforesaid notice, the Government which proposed to take such action shall be free to do so at any time thereafter, and the other Government shall be free within fifteen days after such action is taken to terminate this Agreement in its entirety on thirty days’ written notice.”↩