611.6131/597: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston)
424. Your 977, August 6, 9 p.m.,75 and 978, August 6, 10 p.m.
1. A press release similar to last year’s76 was issued here in the afternoon of August 6 and was reported in the morning newspapers of [Page 459] August 7. The release gave trade figures by agreement years, referred to the proviso to the Soviet purchase commitment, and reported the fact that there have been no imports of Russian coal since October 1939.
2. In my press conference of August 7, I read the following statement:
“It may be noted that notes were exchanged yesterday between this Government and the Soviet Government extending until August 6, 1941 the commercial agreement which in its present form was first concluded between the two countries on August 4, 1937. The present agreement is similar to those in effect during the previous 3 years, in all respects except that there has been added a proviso to the note referring to the minimum amount of purchases ($40,000,000) to be made in the United States by the Soviet Economic organizations. This proviso takes into account the possibility that various export restrictions imposed by the United States in the course of its national defense program may make it impossible for these organizations to carry out their intentions.
“It is a source of deep gratification that we are able by means of this agreement to continue our commercial relations with the U. S. S. R. on the present basis and it is to be hoped that during the coming year they will develop in a manner advantageous to both parties.”
3. What appeared to be a discrepancy between the trade figures given you in the Department’s 415, August 5, 6 p.m., and those in last year’s press release may be explained by the fact that the former were American export figures as indicated in the Department’s telegram and the latter were Soviet import figures.
You should at the next opportunity point out to the Soviet authorities that while the agreement refers to the value of Soviet purchases in the United States in the given period, the Soviet Government has been unwilling, despite repeated requests, to furnish this Government with figures indicating the amount of such purchases in the United States. Moreover, for a year no figures giving Soviet imports from the United States have been released. Hence for comparative purposes it was necessary to use American domestic export figures for all agreement years in our press release (mentioned in paragraph numbered 1 above). These figures, beginning with the 1935–36 agreement year, are in thousands of dollars as follows: 33,286; 31,018; 64,224; 50,255; and in the first 11 months of the 1939–40 agreement year 67,779 (preliminary).
In last year’s press release figures were given for the value of United States imports for consumption from the Soviet Union through the 1937–38 agreement year. For the 1938–39 agreement year and the first 11 months of the 1939–40 agreement year, the figures are 24,761 and 23,916 (preliminary) respectively.