641.4231/47
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Canada ( Armour )
Sir: I enclose a copy of my memorandum of a conversation I had with the British Ambassador on January 17, 1937,7 to which is attached [Page 4] a copy of a memorandum which I handed the Ambassador on that occasion, when we discussed the commercial policies of the United States and of the British Empire.
It will be seen that the immediate occasion for the talk which I had with the Ambassador was the reported imminent conclusion of a trade agreement with Canada which binds for a number of years a number of products which the United States had hoped to discuss with the United Kingdom.
Since it had been made abundantly clear to the British Government that concessions of value to the British could only be obtained from us at the expense of less exclusiveness within the British Empire, I have felt that present action indicates that that suggestion was entirely unheeded. Moreover, the British and Dominion Governments in general do not seem to be steering in the direction of liberalized trading so necessary to peace and prosperity in the world, a tendency disappointingly contrary to their broad public expressions and private promises of support in the larger program.
Very truly yours,
- Supra.↩