711.53/41e
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
The Department refers to the aide-mémoire of the British Embassy dated May 16, 1944, concerning the current wolfram negotiations in Lisbon, and to the Department’s aide-mémoire of today85 concerning a paper of the Combined Chiefs of Staff indicating that they would welcome a voluntary step taken by Portugal to become an active Ally in the war.
The Department considers that in bringing the decision of the Combined Chiefs of Staff to the attention of the Portuguese Government the British and the American Ambassadors in Lisbon should request that Government to establish a temporary embargo on the exportation of wolfram, to be maintained at least while discussions are in progress. This is a reasonable request and one to which Dr. Salazar should find no difficulty in acceding, in as much as it is a measure which the Spanish Government readily adopted last January. It will be recalled that the temporary embargo imposed by the Spanish Government applied to all wolfram stocks, including production of German mines and stocks in the hands of the Germans and ready for exportation, and was maintained until the end of April. In the event that the Portuguese Government should demonstrate clearly a disposition to delay action, the Department considers that the threat of sanctions contemplated in the Embassy’s aide-mémoire of May 16, 1944, and in the instructions already furnished the British Ambassador for possible future execution, might then be employed to good advantage.
The Department believes that the Portuguese Government should be informed of the decision of the Combined Chiefs of Staff and should be requested to establish at least a temporary embargo on the exportation of wolfram without delay, and that while the two actions need not necessarily be related they should be taken as nearly simultaneously as possible.
[Page 116]If the British Government will indicate to the Department its concurrence in these proposals, the Department will issue appropriate instructions to the American Ambassador in Lisbon.