740.00112 European War 1939/5794: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Tuck) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:43 p.m.]
897. The Director of the Commercial Section of the Foreign Office67 asked me to call urgently this morning. He said that he wished to convey to me unofficially and strictly confidentially the following information:
For a period of almost a year the Germans had been pressing the French Government to supply them with certain minerals of North African origin including cobalt. Until recently it had been possible to stave off these demands on one pretext or another. When, however, it appeared likely that the United States Government was disinclined to renew the North African economic program the French Government as a result of renewed pressure sold to the Germans 500 tons of cobalt. The French had nevertheless insisted that under no circumstances would this cobalt be shipped in French bottoms and the Germans were informed that they could make their own arrangements as to transport.
My informant said that the Germans had recently informed the French Government that arrangements had now been completed with the Spanish Government whereby a Spanish sailing vessel would call at the port of Nemours in Algeria to load the 500 tons of cobalt and transport it to Spanish Morocco. It was believed that this sailing vessel is now at the port of Nemours. He felt that this information would be particularly interesting to our Government and he was anxious to assure me that the agreement to sell the cobalt had only been given at a time when the French Government honestly believed that there was no prospect of the resumption of the North African program.
He said that since then there had been a further demand from the Germans for 1,000 tons of cobalt which he assured me would be refused by the French Government.
Turning to the question of the resumption of the North African program and conditions as to the restriction of exportation of certain [Page 316] minerals which our Government wished to impose he said that he felt that it would be most difficult to give any official undertaking to that effect which if given would almost certainly be turned down by the Germans. His Government was nevertheless willing and anxious to give us such an undertaking unofficially and as a “spontaneous” gesture. He hoped that I would stress to the Department the difficulties that would result from our insistence on an official undertaking which might jeopardize the whole question of the renewal of the program.
As regards the present status of the resumption of the program he said that the agreement of the Germans had been obtained in principle to the departure of the vessels. The French Government has asked authorization from the Germans to make shipments of cork and tartar but so far had received no answer.
Repeated to Murphy.
- Pierre Albert Arnal.↩