561.311F1 Advisory Committee/1063a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
Washington, December 20, 1941—6 p.m.
5971. Department’s 5738, paragraph 10, December 6.
- 1.
- Salter informed the Department December 17 that he had received instructions to the effect that the United Kingdom could not agree at this time to any proposals involving either a price formula or restrictions on importations from nonsignatory countries principally because of their concern regarding the Soviet Union, and he suggested that the best thing to do was to adjourn the wheat meeting with a progress report indicating the matters on which the conferring governments were agreed and the proposals which they would wish to present to other governments as soon as possible. In response to our suggestion that consideration might be given to inviting the Soviet Government and possibly the governments in exile to participate in the present wheat discussions, Salter expressed doubts as to whether an agreement regarding the price provisions would even then be possible.
- 2.
- We are now informed that the United Kingdom delegation has received a further telegram from London asking them to disregard the instructions referred to above and to await further instructions. Consequently, Salter suggests that the full meeting of the conference which was scheduled for December 22 to resume the wheat discussions on the basis of further instructions to the United Kingdom delegation be postponed until the first week in January.
Please report as soon as possible any information you may be able to obtain concerning this situation.
Hull