Office of the Historian

611.5531/765

The Belgian Ambassador (Van der Straten-Ponthoz) to the Secretary of State

[Translation]
Washington, April 11, 1939.

Mr. Secretary of State: On July 9, 1937, Your Excellency did me the honor of sending me a letter2 in which were communicated to me the changes proposed by the American Government in the Belgian counter-draft relating to the general provisions of our Trade Agreement.

In connection with that communication, I have the honor to forward to you enclosed:3

(1)
A copy of the text of a new Belgian counter-draft of the General Provisions;
(2)
This same text compared with the last American draft, containing between / / the words or phrases which the Belgian Government would like to have eliminated, and underlined, the words or phrases which the Belgian Government would like to have substituted for the text between / /, or added to the American text. In addition, there appears in this document, opposite each article, a brief remark giving the reason for the changes made by the Belgian Government in the last text proposed for its acceptance.

I hold myself at the disposal of Your Excellency for the purpose of proceeding with any exchange of ideas which you might consider useful in regard to the enclosed texts.

I avail myself [etc.]

R. Van der Straten
  1. Ibid., 1937, Vol. ii, p. 220.↩
  2. Enclosures not attached to file copy of this document.↩