611.5731/193
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Hugh S. Cumming, Jr., of the Division of European Affairs
The Norwegian Minister called on Mr. Sayre by appointment this afternoon to say good-bye before leaving for Norway on Saturday, July 2, and to inquire whether Mr. Sayre was in a position to give any reply to the aide-mémoire which the Minister had left with Mr. Sayre on April 27, 1938.
Mr. Sayre handed the Minister a memorandum, of which the attached is a copy,16 which the Minister read in Mr. Sayre’s presence. The Minister said that he was glad to have this memorandum as it confirmed the reports which he had been sending the Foreign Office in Oslo of his own estimate of the American Government’s position with respect to trade agreement negotiations. In a conversation which followed Mr. Morgenstierne mentioned briefly, as he had done on previous occasions, the difficulties which the present Norwegian Government faced in reaching a decision to negotiate with the United States, due to the opposition of certain of the agricultural elements of Norway and the dependence of the Government now in power on the support of the Agrarian Party for its maintenance in office.
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