865.50/10–1245: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Italy (Kirk)
1824. 1. The stage has been reached when US Govt participation in purchase of Italian imports and sale of its exports should be terminated. As far as possible all trade with Italy should be returned to private channels subject to such controls as the Ital Govt may find necessary to prevent the exportation of products needed in the Italian economy, to assure the use of Italian foreign exchange only for essential imports and to carry out pertinent directives of AC affecting Italian trade.
2. The US Govt proposes therefore to take following steps: (A) US Govt will cease its participation on Dec. 1, 1945, in the procurement of Category B, Ital Govt program of essential imports in this country. US Govt facilities will continue to be used to complete procurement of the FEA Interim Program approved by CLAC.10 [Page 1291] Purchases in US for the present and proposed UNRRA programs11 will continue to be made by UNRRA through US Govt procurement agencies. (B) The US Govt will terminate direct participation of the USCC12 in the exportation of Italian goods to this country no later than Jan. 1, 1946. (At present time USCC acts as agent for ICE,13 although Ital Govt has never signed a formal contract and has limited itself to the notification of its intention of writing a letter of intent to the USCC which will formalize relationship.) (C) Present export licensing controls existing in US with respect to US exports to Italy will be liberalized shortly and Italy will be placed in the same category as other liberated areas. The Treasury will shortly issue a new general license permitting transactions in Italian funds accruing after the date of issue. Until that time Treasury licenses will continue to be required for all transactions involving Italian assets. Full details will be communicated in separate cable to Treasury representative. By FEA action on export control, Italy would be moved from Group E to Group K countries. This step will automatically make it unnecessary to have specific licenses for commodities other than those in short supply and will make it possible for American business men to deal with Italian firms directly without any specific US Govt approval, but subject to Italian and AC regulations. At the same time provisions for shipping space for, commercial shipments to Italy will be made within WSA14 allocations so that individual exporters may arrange directly with steamship companies for space on particular ships.
3. It is our desire that all exports from Italy to US following withdrawal of USCC behandled through private channels, subject to such licensing or other appropriate procedures by Ital Govt as may be warranted to prevent exportation of essential goods needed in the Italian economy to assure that the dollar proceeds are made available to Ital Govt. We hope that a large part of Italy’s imports from the US outside the proposed UNRRA program can be handled through private channels. It is recognized however that some items will have to be purchased by representatives of the Ital Govt for government account and that Ital Govt will have to license private transactions in order to assure efficient use of its available dollars for essential items only and arrange for proper coordination and distribution of imports in Italy.
4. You are requested to (A) inform Ital Govt of steps which this government proposes to take as outlined above; (B) express hope [Page 1292] that all exports to US and as much of imports as possible can be handled through private trade channels; (C) suggest that Ital Govt may desire to establish at the earliest possible moment appropriate machinery to handle licensing of Italian foreign trade. Also to make arrangements for purchase by Ital Govt representatives in this country of those imports which cannot for the present be properly handled through private channels; (D) advise Ital Govt of our desire to discuss details of arrangements in Eome or Washington as soon as possible.
5. For your information the British Government has already issued statutory rules and orders authorizing persons in UK to resume trading with Italy, (refer A–311 from London to Washington, Sept. 15, 1945, repeated to Rome15) and expressed similar views for the need of setting up an effective Italian import and export licensing organization.
- Combined Liberated Areas Committee.↩
- For documentation regarding United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration programs, see vol. ii, pp. 958 ff.↩
- United States Commercial Company.↩
- Istituto Commercio Estero.↩
- War Shipping Administration.↩
- Not found in Department files; apparently this reference is in error.↩