740.0011 European War 1939/7644: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Portugal ( Pell )
81. Department’s 51, January 28, 6 p.m. For Murphy. In the matter of your return to Algiers the Department has been in consultation both with London and Vichy.
Apparently the British have imagined our negotiations have gone further than is actually the case.38 However they have been set straight on that point and “agree to the supply of essential requirements to Morocco by the United States provided (1) that excessive stocks are not built up and (2) that steps are taken to see there is no risk of the goods reaching the enemy. For this purpose His Majesty’s Government regard it as essential that United States officials should be appointed at ports and on the railways …39 (3) His Majesty’s Government would be willing to include Algeria and Tunisia in the agreement provided that guarantees against reexport could be made really effective.” The above conditions are sine qua non with the British who also attach importance to the fact (4) that in their negotiations “the principal stipulation made by His Majesty’s Government was for the release of British and neutral ships detained in Moroccan ports. With the present dire need of shipping this is a vital point.…39 His Majesty’s Government cannot be expected to grant immunity to ships carrying supplies to Morocco while the tonnage which they urgently need is detained there.”
The Vichy Government has no objection to your immediate return for further conversations with General Weygand in Algiers, [Page 220] but has requested, because of the present difficulties with Germany, that you should not visit Dakar.41
Accordingly you are instructed to return for a final visit to North Africa before proceeding to Vichy to report previous to your return to the United States. You may state to General Weygand that the Government of the United States is prepared in principle to proceed with the matter of extending economic cooperation to the North African territories and has in fact informed the French Government of its agreement to the release of sufficient funds in this country that a French tanker may proceed at once to Morocco with petroleum products. You should add that under certain conditions enumerated below, I shall be prepared to authorize the shipment to Casablanca or any other designated port in French North Africa, (and if necessary the unblocking of sufficient funds) of further quantities of petroleum, kerosene, coal, tea, sugar, and such other supplies as are considered to be immediately and urgently necessary to prevent a breakdown of the North African economic system.
We should also be interested in receiving a list of those commodities General Weygand would seek to purchase in this country and likewise any commodities he would under existing conditions have available for export. You will explain to General Weygand that while the question of suitable guarantees in conformity with his statements to you (that goods imported under this arrangement would be solely for local consumption and that equivalent products will not be exported to Metropolitan France) should lie ultimately in agreement between the Vichy and the United States Governments, nevertheless an exchange of initialed memorandum of conversation relating to the guarantees he has personally given to you will be satisfactory for the immediate situation.
I believe that in order to carry out the arrangements which are proposed for trade with French Africa, it would be advisable for General Weygand to appoint a representative in this country who would be authorized to discuss the various details regarding transport and means of payment.
In order to expedite the discussions, General Weygand may perhaps wish to consider appointing in the capacity of his economic representative a person who is already in the United States. M. Paul Guerin, who is now in Washington in the interests of the Moroccan Railways and who has been working in close cooperation with officials of the French Embassy, has already discussed some of these questions with the Department. We are prepared in any event to enter promptly into further discussions with the person named by General [Page 221] Weygand as a qualified negotiator regarding the trade and economic problems of French Africa.
In the course of your conversation with General Weygand you may wish to refer to the reported arrival in Morocco of several members of a German control commission and inquire whether this would militate against the success of any contemplated trade arrangement.
If your conversations with General Weygand have developed satisfactorily up to this point, you may then refer to the conditions laid clown by the British as set forth above. You will realize, of course, that point number 4, while a sine qua non of the British position, is one with which we are also sympathetic, but we recognize the difficulties in this connection which are imposed by the requirements of the German Armistice Commission in connection with the movement of ships.
The Department will furthermore expect that during your visit in Northern Africa you will likewise discuss with American consular officers the feasibility of stationing observers at ports and railways in compliance with the British demands referred to above.
You should make every effort to see that any publicity attendant upon your trip makes it clear that your conversations relate only to discussions concerning the supplying from the United States of food stuffs for Northern Africa, and plans providing for the distribution thereof.