811.24 Raw Materials/829a
The Department of State to the Embassy of the Soviet Union 3
Aide-Mémoire
Since September 26, 1939, it has been the announced policy of this Government to discourage, in the interest of the national defense, the exportation of certain strategic materials except shipments in normal quantities to customers in foreign countries who normally obtained their supplies of these materials from American exporters before the outbreak of the present war in Europe.
The strategic materials to which this policy applies are:
- Antimony
- Chromium
- Manganese, ferrograde
- Manila Fiber
- Quartz Crystal
- Quicksilver
- Quinine
- Rubber
- Silk
- Tin
- Tungsten
Foreign trade statistics of the United States Department of Commerce indicate the following reexports from the United States to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of strategic materials covered by the policy mentioned above:
Reexports of Foreign Merchandise
| Crude Rubber | Tin in bars, blocks, pigs, etc. | |||
| 1939 | pounds | dollars | pounds | dollars |
| Oct. | 11,271,538 | 2,496,366 | — | — |
| Nov. | 111,487 | 24,942 | 67,192 | 34,268 |
| Dec. | — | — | 1,889,458 | 977,446 |
| 1940 | ||||
| Jan. | — | — | 2,743,574 | 1,403,428 |
| Feb. | — | — | 509,205 | 186,768 |
| March* | 50,080 | 13,738 | — | — |
This policy was adopted, in the interest of national defense, as a means of safeguarding United States supplies of the materials listed. In response to the Government’s invitation, the vast majority of dealers, brokers and others concerned in the market are cooperating with this policy by refusing to export these materials, or to sell them for export, in any unusual channels irrespective of the country of destination. The policy is in no sense designed to deny supplies to foreign buyers on any other basis.
It has been inevitable that the unusual activity of the Amtorg Corporation in seeking to secure large quantities of some of these strategic materials in the American market has led to the impression in the market that the principal unusual export demand for such products is that created by Amtorg and that shipments, or inquiries regarding purchases for shipment, to some other export destinations may be connected with a transshipment trade from such destinations to the Soviet Union. It would seem desirable, from the standpoint of the Soviet Union as well as of this Government, to remove the impression that the activities of the Amtorg Corporation are in conflict with the policy of this Government in this matter. The most effective way of achieving this result would appear to be the cessation of all efforts by the Amtorg Corporation, either direct or indirect, to secure from this market the strategic materials covered by this Government’s policy.