611.51G31/11
The Department of State to the French Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
The receipt is acknowledged of the French Embassy’s aide-mémoire of date February 6, 1941, with further reference to the question of commercial negotiations between the United States and the Government General of Indochina. In that aide-mémoire the French Government urgently requests that the Government of the United States enter into immediate commercial negotiation with Indochina with a view to safeguarding American economic interests in that French colony. The French Government suggests, with a view to [Page 67] expediting the matter, that the American Ambassador at Vichy be instructed to carry on the necessary conversations looking toward an agreement.
The Government of the United States, in pursuance of its policy of acquiring stock piles of essential materials, desires at the earliest possible moment to conclude contracts with the Government General of Indochina for the purchase of rubber, tin, tungsten, antimony and similar commodities. Information to this effect was conveyed to the French Embassy in this Government’s aide-mémoire of January 30, 1941, while on February 1 the American Consul at Saigon was instructed by this Government to discuss without delay with the Government General of Indochina the question of concluding contracts covering rubber available in Indochina at the present moment as well as production during the coming year.90 In reply to the French Embassy’s aide-mémoire under reference the Government of the United States reiterates its desire to conclude without delay purchase contracts covering the commodities in question. Noting the French Government’s desire that the necessary commercial conversations be carried on in Vichy, this Government has instructed its Ambassador to France91 to receive any proposals which the French Government may have to make with respect to contracts for the sale of the commodities in question by the Government General of Indochina to agencies of this Government.
In connection with the desire of the French Government to enter into commercial negotiations with this Government, presumably covering the commodities, including rubber, which this Government is desirous of acquiring, it is pertinent to point out that the Government of the United States has been informed that the Government General of Indochina, under instructions from the French Government at Vichy, has prohibited all sales of rubber pending the establishment of a government purchasing bureau for rubber now being organized; that exporters at Saigon have endeavored without success to have the Government General request authority from Vichy to make another contract with the Rubber Reserve Company, an agency of this Government; that the entire January and February production is to be shipped to France; and that it is not possible at the present time to make a new contract with the Rubber Reserve Company. It is also pertinent to point out that it has been reported to the Government of the United States that a joint German-Japanese concern has arranged to purchase 25,000 tons of Indochinese rubber, more than half of which is to go to Germany. There appears to be an inconsistency between the desire of the French Government to enter into immediate commercial negotiations with the United States concerning rubber and [Page 68] other commodities, the refusal of the Government General of Indochina, under instructions from the French Government, to enter into further contracts with the Rubber Reserve Company, and the apparent willingness of the Government General of Indochina to make available a large amount of Indochina rubber to a joint German-Japanese concern.
However, as already stated above, this Government has instructed its Ambassador to France to receive any proposals which the French Government may have to make with respect to contracts for the sale of the commodities in question by the Government General of Indochina to agencies of this Government.