851.50/7–245
The French Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in France
On December 12 last the Embassy of the United States was good enough to send to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs an aide-mémoire concerning the resumption of private trade between the African territories and the United States.
In reply to that communication, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the honor to set forth below, for the Embassy of the United States, the position of the French Government in this matter which has been [Page 767] the subject of conversations that His Excellency William Culbertson has just had in Paris, following the mission in North Africa that was entrusted to him by the Government of the United States in the summer of 1944.
As has been recalled in the course of these conversations, the Provisional Government and the Government of the United States are already in agreement that the Lend-Lease arrangement involving instalment payments would cease to be in force in 1945 with regard to civilian purchases originating in the territories designated by the Franco-American modus vivendi of September 25, 1943.19 Purchases made in the United States for the supplying of North African territories and French West Africa shall henceforth be paid for in cash, in dollars, and therefore the method of payment thus applied shall no longer differ basically from that governing private purchases.
Furthermore, the French Government fully agrees with the Government of the United States regarding the desirability of resuming trade, on the basis of private commerce, between the United States on the one hand and the French territories of North and West Africa, as well as the other French colonies, on the other, although the latter were not expressly mentioned in the aide-mémoire of December 12.
The French Government is happy to note that the American Government has made arrangements to facilitate exports from the French African territories to the United States. The French Government, for its part, is making every effort to facilitate the issuance of export licenses for exports to the United States within the limit of availability in overseas French territories of goods capable of interesting the American market, taking into account local needs, the needs of Metropolitan France, and needs in connection with the war effort. The French Government is confident that the American Government will give exporters in Overseas France full facilities for making sales in the United States, especially with respect to ocean shipping and the transfer to local exchange offices of the dollar amounts realized from these sales, which amounts will make it easier for these territories to make purchases in the United States and in other countries that make their international payments in dollars. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs avails itself of this occasion to call the attention of the Embassy of the United States to the difficulties created by the American Government that impede the granting of licenses for such transfer to the exchange offices.
With regard to purchases in the United States of civilian goods intended for North Africa and territories under the jurisdiction of the French Ministry of Colonies, the French Government intends [Page 768] that those operations shall, to the largest possible extent, be private transactions.
It is distinctly understood that, as long as there is a world shortage of supplies and ocean shipping facilities, these purchases may be made only within the framework of the import programs jointly agreed upon by the French Government, the Government of the United States, and the competent interallied organizations. Licenses may be issued to importers. When these licenses have been certified by the local exchange offices, they shall, in accordance with general exchange regulations, authorize the recipient to acquire, under the conditions laid down in the license, the dollars needed to pay for the said imports.
However, the French Government does not think that it is in a position to make this purchasing procedure general, and for the following reasons:
- 1.
- A number of products are now imported on behalf of State agencies such as the Office des Céréales (Grain Bureau), the Services du Ravitaillement Général (General Supply Services) etc., and consequently, the corresponding orders can be placed on the American market only by the French Purchasing Mission through administrative channels.
- 2.
- With respect to the territories in North Africa, the small volume of imports which will be possible within the framework of the programs, as compared with the normal volume of imports, would not, in the case of many products, allow for fair allotment among the various importers without dividing purchases to such an extent that the program would become unrealizable on a commercial basis. If it were desired not to effect the purchase of these products through administrative channels, such purchase would have to be entrusted to special groups. In that case the desired direct contact between purchaser and seller would not be established and we would run the risk of witnessing an increase in the activities of importer-groups, whereas these groups are considered by the French Government as temporary organizations that are inherent in a state of war. Consequently it appears inevitable that, in the case of all products that could not be imported in sufficient quantities to satisfy the demands of an impossibly large number of importers, the French Purchasing Mission must continue temporarily to effect purchases on behalf of the Offices du Commerce Extérieur (Foreign Commerce Offices) or the local supply services.
Therefore, in spite of the French Government’s expressed desire, purchases in the United States for the supplying of North African territories can only gradually become private purchases. The French Mission will have to continue its activities; to that end it will maintain [Page 769] essential contacts with the competent American services and will continue, in particular, to take action to secure the necessary transportation facilities, both for purchases it makes itself through administrative channels and for private purchases. In this connection, the French Government is counting on the Foreign Economic Administration to continue to lend its assistance to the French Mission. It appears desirable to the French Government that an accurate procedure be worked out between the American Government and the French Purchasing Mission; this procedure should be the subject of conversations in Washington.
As to the other overseas French territories, the French Government is willing for direct contacts to be established at once between American businessmen and businessmen of the colonies. The French Ministry of Colonies will, for its part, strive to facilitate these contacts, which could most conveniently take place in Paris where the major colonial companies have permanent agencies.
- Department of State Executive Agreement Series No. 483, or 59 Stat. (pt. 2) 1660.↩