611.60C31/183b
The Secretary of State to the Polish Chargé (Wankowicz)
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the exploratory conversations which took place in Washington, D. C, from June 8 to June 14, 1937, inclusive, between representatives of the Government of the United States of America and the Republic of Poland, respectively, concerning the possibility of a trade agreement between the two countries, and to express my appreciation of the opportunity offered by Mr. Sokolowski’s visit to this country for the representatives of each of the two Governments to gain a sympathetic and clearer understanding of the problems and policies of the other Government in respect of international trade relations.
The results of the conversations as recorded in the memoranda thereof,8 copies of which have been supplied to the Polish Embassy in Washington, have been given careful consideration and, except for one point discussed below, to which further consideration is being given, it is desired to confirm the tentative views expressed by the American representatives on behalf of this Government with respect to the various issues raised in the course of the discussions and, in particular, the position taken by them in regard to the provisions of a possible trade agreement with Poland in respect of quotas and related forms of trade control. It is sincerely hoped that the Government of Poland will give careful and serious consideration to the possibility of providing in this respect treatment based on the unconditional most-favored-nation principle; in other words, treatment in respect of quotas and related forms of trade control which would assure each country an opportunity to supply a fair and equitable share of the importations into the other country as might be determined by the share supplied by such country in a previous representative period. Inasmuch as the unconditional most-favored-nation principle is fundamental to the commercial policy of the United States, an understanding between the [Page 531] American and Polish Governments in regard to its application to quotas would seem to be essential to the determination of a basis upon which the two countries might enter into trade-agreement negotiations.
In regard to the several questions raised by the Polish representatives for consideration by this Government and the list of products indicated by Mr. Sokolowski as being of special interest to Poland in connection with possible trade-agreement negotiations, I desire to present the following views and information:
As to the provisions pertaining to sanitary measures referred to in the conversations, the Government of the United States would be prepared in trade-agreement negotiations with Poland to give consideration to inserting in such provisions an introductory phrase similar in substance to the following, suggested by Mr. Sokolowski and recorded in the memorandum of the conversations of June 10, 1937, 3:30 p.m.:
“Inasmuch as the Government of neither country desires sanitary measures more restrictive than is required for sanitary purposes …”
On further consideration of the proposed most-favored-nation reservation by Poland in respect of the Baltic countries9 doubts have arisen as to whether this Government could agree to the proposed exception. However, further careful study is being given to this matter, and, when the position of this Government has been formulated, a decision on this point will be communicated to the Government of Poland.
As was pointed out in the conversations, the proposals suggested by Mr. Sokolowski in regard to the anti-dumping and countervailing duties of the United States and the valuation of imports for customs purposes involve questions falling within the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department, and, in the event that an understanding should be reached with the Polish Government in regard to a basis for entering into trade-agreement negotiations, the matter would have to be referred to that Department for consideration.
The list of commodities which, it was indicated by Mr. Sokolowski, would be of special interest to Poland in connection with trade agreement negotiations has been examined in some detail. Although this Government is not, of course, prepared at this time to give any commitment [Page 532] whatsoever with respect to the granting of concessions on the commodities involved, it may nevertheless be appropriate to give some tentative indication as to what consideration might be given to the commodities listed should negotiations be instituted. For this purpose, the commodities contained in the Polish list have been divided as follows into three principal groups, according to the possibilities which, on the basis of preliminary study, they would appear to offer for concessions:
[Here follows an itemized list of tariff schedules in three groups: (I) items which it would appear possible to consider for granting concessions to Poland; (II) items on which any concession would appear to be doubtful; and (III) items on which it did not seem that concessions in an agreement with Poland would be possible.]
The possibility of granting concessions on a number of the items contained in Group III, above, are being considered in connection with other possible trade-agreement negotiations. The unconditional most-favored-nation pledge would, of course, assure Poland the benefits of any concessions made in trade agreements with other countries. It may be noted that no reference is found in the above list to paragraphs 1009, 1011, 1013, 1014, 1016, 1017, and 1519 of the Tariff Act of 1930, with respect to which it was indicated in the Polish list that the items involved would be defined later. It may also be noted that certain corrections of the Polish list have been made in the above list in the references to the paragraphs of the Tariff Act of 1930 covering glue, mufflers, knitted gloves, and hens’ eggs. It is believed that the references as given above were those intended.
As was explained by the American representatives in their conversations with Mr. Sokolowski, this Government, in its trade-agreement negotiations, must in general reserve concessions on particular products to countries which are the principal or an important source of the imports thereof into the United States. This rule of principal or important supplier was, of course, taken into account in making the groupings in the above list.
I hope that the information presented above will serve as a basis for further studies with a view to finding a mutually satisfactory basis for trade-agreement negotiations.
It is hoped that the contents of this communication will be held strictly confidential by the Polish Government.
Accept [etc.]
- None printed.↩
- in the conversation of June 8, 1937, Mr. Sokolowski indicated that Poland had recently adopted the policy of excepting trade with the Baltic countries of Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania from the most-favored-nation provisions in its treaties with other countries. The balance of trade with these countries was greatly in favor of Poland. In consequence, on June 11, Mr. Sokolowski proposed the following reservation: “The advantages now accorded or which may hereafter be accorded by Poland to Latvia, Estonia, Finland, or Lithuania shall be exempted from the operation of this agreement so long as they are not accorded to any third country.” (611.60C31/180)↩