Office of the Historian

560.AL/4–1547: Telegram

The Consul at Geneva (Troutman) to the Secretary of State

secret
Geneva, April 15, 1947—6 p.m.

119. Frito 9. For Nitze1 from Wilcox. Wool price support bill containing import fee provision reurtel 137,2 would be:

1.
Inconsistent with adminstration wool program contained in President’s letter to O’Mahoney.3
2.
Seriously embarrassing to Geneva trade conference.
3.
Violation spirit of paragraph “avoidance of new tariff measures,” annexure 10 London ITO report and numerous exchanges of notes with other govts.
4.
Prejudicial to continuance wool study group negotiations looking toward surplus disposal agreement.4

Recommend preparation veto message and informing conferees veto pending. Will confirm above following discussion Clayton on his arrival Wednesday, the 16th.

Repeated London for Clayton and Wheeler. [Wilcox.]

Troutman
  1. Paul Nitze, Deputy Director, Office of International Trade Policy.↩
  2. Department telegram 137, April 14, not printed, described the wool bill which had passed the Senate, and asked for the views of Clayton and Wilcox. (611.003/4–1447)↩
  3. Reference here is to President Truman’s letter of March 11, 1946, with an attached memorandum describing the Administration’s proposed wool program; see footnote 1, p. 915.↩
  4. The Wool Study Group held its first meeting in London, March 31–April 3; its principal objective was that of finding means to liquidate a world surplus stock of wool. See Department of State Bulletin, April 13, 1947, pp. 659–660; and Ibid., May 18, 1947, pp. 987–989.↩