611.6131/644

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Commercial Policy and Agreements (Hawkins)

For the Information of the Secretary of State:

The exchange of notes continuing in force the Commercial Agreement of 1937, for which an appointment has been made for you and the Russian Ambassador at 10 a.m. July 31, provides that the agreement shall remain in force until August 6, 1943 and thereafter, unless superseded by a more comprehensive commercial agreement, subject to termination on six months’ notice by either Government.

At that time you will hand the Ambassador an aide-mémoire, similar to the one given him last year with respect to coal.94 This aide-mémoire [Page 763] states that if at any time during the life of the agreement it should appear that imports of Soviet coal into the United States would exceed in any calendar year the figure of 400,000 tons mentioned in the Soviet note of August 6, 1940 limiting exports of coal to the United States, the Government of the United States would feel free to consult with the Soviet Government with a view to arriving at a satisfactory adjustment of the matter.

Harry C. Hawkins
  1. The text of the aide-mémoire of July 31, 1942, regarding imports of coal from the Soviet Union, is identical with the aide-mémoire of August 2, 1941, Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, p. 924.