611.60F31/560a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Czechoslovakia (Carr)
3. In yesterday’s meeting with Trade Delegation the American Chairman stated that the United States expects more concessions in the projected agreement than Czechoslovakia has up to the present time offered. He said that the two schedules as originally presented had represented a balanced agreement and that nevertheless we have agreed to certain recessions from our original requests in Schedule I.
With respect to Schedule II the United States has offered duty reductions on 43 out of 50 items, these 43 representing 49 percent of Czechoslovakia’s exports to the United States in 1936. On the other hand in Schedule I raw materials represent 63.4 percent of American exports to Czechoslovakia in 1936. Of course Czechoslovakia has agreed to bind these, but this action does not really represent an improved condition for American commerce. Our requests for improved treatment, either by duty reductions or by removal of permit requirements, cover only 12.8 percent of our exports to Czechoslovakia in 1936. The outstanding items included in this last percentage are automobiles, lard, apples and prunes on which we have already indicated our willingness to recede in part from our original requests.
Culbertson5 then compared relative importance of United States imports from Czechoslovakia to that of the combined imports from Czechoslovakia by Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia. In 1936 of the total of Czechoslovakia’s exports the United States took 9.1 percent and the other three countries combined absorbed 12 percent. He said that in the light of these comparative figures Czechoslovakia should not place too much emphasis on the Danubian market at the expense of the American trade.
- Paul T. Culbertson, Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs.↩