611.60h31/31: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Yugoslavia (Wilson)
17. Your 42, December 21, 2 p.m. The following proposal was made to Fotitch by note dated December 17:
- 1.
- Conclusion of a modus vivendi similar to the agreement of March 29, 1935, with Czechoslovakia. See Executive Agreement Series No. 74.
- 2.
- In the event the modus vivendi is unacceptable to Yugoslavia the conclusion of an agreement setting aside Articles 6, 7 and 9 of the 1881 Treaty, this agreement to be accompanied by an exchange of notes setting forth the desire of the two governments to reestablish trade on unconditional most-favored-nation basis at earliest possible notice.
Copies of the note, which explains our trade agreements policy in considerable detail and stresses the need to conserve the most-favored-nation principle if world trade is to be revived, and of the enclosed drafts, together with departmental memoranda relating to the trade problem with Yugoslavia, were transmitted to you by mail instruction dated December 21.16
Under the circumstances you may consider it desirable to inform the Assistant Minister of the note to Fotitch and suggest that the proposed informal conversations be delayed until either the Foreign Office has received the text of the note and enclosures or you have received the Department’s instruction of December 21.
- Instructions of December 21 not printed..↩