862.6362/2–846

The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador ( Bonnet )

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of France, and has the honor to reply to the French Embassy’s note, Number 103 of February 8.59

The Department of State has inquired of the American representative in Berlin concerning the circumstances of the statement made by the American member in the Economic Directorate of the Allied Control Council on January 10.

Assurances have been received that this statement did not relate to the general principles for the allocation of German coal, which remain those set down in the President’s Directive of July 1945.

The statement of the American member in the Economic Directorate sought to correct a temporary deficiency of deliveries to the United States Zone of Occupation. Deliveries to the American Zone, within the agreed allocations, had not been met in the months of October, November, and December 1945. In December, export deliveries exceeded allocations. The American member, in these circumstances, expressed the view that an increase in export allocations should not be made until the level of allocations within Germany, which had been agreed on a quadripartite basis, was being currently met by deliveries. This view appears to be consistent with the Coal Directive of July 1945.

The Secretary of State takes this occasion to assure His Excellency the Ambassador of France of his continued concern that, within the terms of the Coal Directive, the level of German coal exports be maximized in order to make the largest possible contribution to the recovery of the French economy.60

  1. Not printed, but see telegram 387, to Berlin, supra.
  2. In note No. 183, dated March 14, from the French Embassy, the request was reiterated, in view of the assurances contained in the Secretary’s communication, that the United States representative on the Coordinating Committee be instructed to consider the needs of the French economy when coal was discussed at the Coordinating Committee meeting scheduled for March 18 (862.6362/3–1446).