611.60H31/86
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Minister of Yugoslavia called to see me this morning. The Minister said that he had called primarily to express his very earnest hope that there might be no break-down in the negotiations for a trade agreement between Yugoslavia and the United States. He told me that he and Mr. Sayre and Mr. Hawkins6 had now apparently reached an agreement on all of the main points involved, except on the question of automobiles, and that he hoped very earnestly that this Government would understand the difficult situation of the Yugoslav Government and its inability to go very much further than it already had indicated its willingness to go. He said that in the present situation of Europe the one ray of hope that presented itself was the trade agreement program and that it seemed to him of compelling importance at this time, both for political and economic reasons, that a trade agreement between our two countries be consummated. I explained to him my complete sympathy with the objective he had in mind and said that I should, of course, be glad to bring his views to the attention of the Secretary of State and Mr. Sayre.
- Harry C. Hawkins, Chief of the Division of Trade Agreements.↩