Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The British Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Volume III

611.4731/468: Telegram

The Minister in Australia ( Johnson ) to the Secretary of State

Canberra , December 27, 1943—10 a.m.
[Received 11:01 a.m.]

230. (Treaty Division?) Following is text of note dated December 17 initialed Evatt handed me December 24 by Hodgson.⁴

• “(1) I have noted the decision of Mr. Hull, conveyed to me through the Australian Minister at Washington⁵ that the United States Government could not sanction the conclusion of the proposed trade agreement between the United States and Australia.
• (2) Knowing as I do the keen personal interest Mr. Hull has long taken in the trade program of the United States Department of State I fully appreciate that Mr. Hull has come to this decision with regret.
• (3) As you know negotiations for a trade agreement between our respective Governments has been protracted. The first series of conversations was initiated by the Australian Government in 1929. These continued into the Gullett–Moffatt negotiations which unfortunately proved abortive. You are also well aware of the 1937–1938 multilateral conversations when the Australian Government assisted at considerable sacrifice to its own interest in the making of agreements between the United States Government and the Government of Canada and between the United States Government and the Government of the United Kingdom.⁶
• (4) It was not only our understanding but a specific condition of our concurrence, that at a later date all three countries concerned would assist Australia in every possible way in the making of an agreement with the United States of America.
• (5) The recent series of discussions commenced in 1941 at the suggestion of the United States Secretary of State. It was our understanding at that time that the State Department was eager to achieve an agreement as a practical demonstration of the important possibilities of the trade program. We responded immediately and in July 1941 sent a delegation to America to enter into discussions. These long continued discussions will now have to be terminated.
• (6) We had appreciated that owing to local considerations of importance, the negotiations would have to be completed at the latest by January 1944. It was to avoid just the complications due to local American politics—which Mr. Hull has given as the reason for not continuing negotiations—that we had instructed our representatives to pursue the matter actively. Further, we were led to believe that the offers and concessions proposed were satisfactory in principle. Therefore, we look forward to making an agreement with the United States in the near future.
• (7) Further in common with the United States we have regarded such an agreement as being one practical means of implementing article 7 of the mutual aid agreement. We believe that the United States shared our opinion that bilateral negotiation between nations on trade matters which contributed to the elimination of discrimination and to an improved plan of international trade would be an effective illustration of the principles of the Atlantic Charter.⁷
• (8) For these reasons we have not been able to understand the attitude recently adopted by the United Kingdom and United States officials discussion article 7 in Washington, that it would not be opportune for these bilateral discussions to be continued. Naturally, we hoped and even expected that [in view] of paragraph 4 the State Department would support us in our view. It was for that reason that I instructed the Australian Minister at Washington to discuss the matter with Mr. Hull and to invite the United States Government to complete negotiations for an agreement.
• (9) I should be glad if you would convey my regrets to Mr. Hull that he is not free to complete negotiations and sanction an agreement. At the same time I wish to place on record the fact that the Australian Government had actively pursued these negotiations to the very end, and regrets that for domestic reasons the United States Government is not in a position to enter into a trade agreement with the Commonwealth of Australia.”

Johnson

4. W. R. Hodgson, Australian Secretary of the Department of External Affairs.
5. Richard G. Casey.
6. For correspondence in 1937 and 1938 regarding trade relations between the United States and Australia, see Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. ii, pp. 136 ff., and ibid., 1938, vol. ii, pp. 120 ff. For correspondence regarding reciprocal trade agreement negotiations between the United States and the United Kingdom, see ibid., 1937, vol. ii, pp. 1 ff., and ibid., 1938, vol. ii, pp. 1 ff.; for text of agreement, signed November 17, 1938, see Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 164, or 54 Stat. (pt. 2) 1897. For negotiations between the United States and Canada, see ibid., 1937, vol. ii, pp. 160 ff., and ibid., 1938, vol. ii, pp. 164 ff.; for text of agreement, signed November 17, 1938, see Executive Agreement Series No. 149, or 53 Stat. (pt. 3) 2348.
7. Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. i, p. 367.