Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, Central and Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union, Volume IV

London Embassy Files: Lot 59 F 59: 500 Marshall Plan: Telegram

The Special Representative in Europe for the Economic Cooperation Administration (Harriman) to the Economic Cooperation Administrator (Hoffman)¹

secret

Paris, January 13, 1950—9 p. m.

Repto 212. Pass State Commerce NME. Subject: East-West Trade. East-West Trade Control meeting opened afternoon 9th with plenary session.² Subcommittee appointed to prepare report on nature of continuing work Consultative Group and approp form org. Subcommittee completed work 12th. Summary of report follows:

A. Immediate task to complete lists I and II, settle list III;³ continuing work to consider amendments of lists, review control problems, circulate info, prepare agenda for Consultative Group, call meetings experts, exchange statistics and info on transshipment.

B.

1. Consultative Group composed dels of high official rank to deal with policy, meet quarterly;

2. Coordinating Committee composed reps all PC’s, available Paris to carry on continuing work, deal with matters of multilateral interest or of concern individual members. Would be in effect permanent consultative mechanism;

3. Coordinating Committee wld arrange meetings experts as necessary;

4. Chairman Coordinating Committee responsible arrange necessary secretarial assistance.

Countries except Netherlands adequately represented, and all except Netherlands have been working constructively in plenary and subcommittee. Netherlands delegate⁴ stated at plenary his Govt opposed permanent group or secretariat, wanted to work only on bilateral basis with US, feared publicity, but would follow gen control policy with certain necessary exceptions. All other dels rebutted Netherlands at plenary. Netherlands failed appear for subcommittee work and Netherland del went to Hague Wed returning today. In view apparent Netherlands attitude, could State Dept advise nature statement made by Netherlands in requesting withdrawal Article VII MAP bilateral.⁵

Plenary will meet 13th to consider report on organization,⁶ admission of Germany and schedule further work. Comites on transit and lists are continuing work on technical level.

D’Orlandi⁷ was appointed by French as chairman subcommittee and proved competent. Method selection chairman Coordinating Committee not determined but he appears logical choice.

Harriman

1. This message was repeated to London, Rome, Brussels, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, The Hague, and Vienna.

2. During a series of meetings in Paris in November 1949, representatives from Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed on the establishment of a permanent group (subsequently referred to as the Consultative Group) composed of delegates from the participating countries and serving as a forum for the multilateral approach to the problems of strategic export control. Canada, Norway, and Denmark soon after undertook to participate in the work of the Consultative Group. Regarding the November 1949 meetings in Paris, see telegram Repto 7579, November 25, 1949, from Paris, Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. v, p. 173.

   The Consultative Group met in Paris from January 9 to January 20, 1950. Delegates from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States participated in the meetings. Hervé Alphand, Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs in the French Foreign Ministry, and Head of the French Delegation, was Chairman of the Consultative Group. The United States Delegation was headed by Joseph M. McDaniel, Jr., Assistant to the Deputy Administrator of the Economic Cooperation Administration, and the British Delegation was headed by John E. Coulson, Deputy to the Permanent United Kingdom Representative to the Organization for European Economic Cooperation.

   A summary report on the Consultative Group meetings, dated January 25, by Delegation Chairman McDaniel, together with the texts of the three formal reports produced during the meetings (on organization, lists, and transit trade), none printed, are filed separately under 840.00R/1–2550. A separate brief outline report on the meetings, prepared for the Advisory Committee on Requirements, ACR Document 39, January 24, not printed, together with the texts of the three formal documents, were included as enclosures to the circular instruction of April 26, p. 87.

3. At the intergovernmental meetings on East-West trade controls in Paris in November 1949 (see footnote 2, above), representatives of the participating countries agreed on the establishment of three lists (the International Lists) of items subject to strategic export controls. International List I included those items whose export was totally embargoed. International List II included those items subject to quantitative controls, and International List III included those items whose control was under consideration. International Lists I and II were substantially smaller than the equivalent lists (1–A and 1–B) of the American security export control program. For an explanation of the differences between the International Lists and the American lists, see the circular instruction of April 26, p. 87.
4. S. J. van Tuyll van Serooskerken, Chief of the Netherlands Delegation to the Organization for European Economic Cooperation.
5. Regarding the problem of the proposed Article VII in the bilateral military assistance agreements between the United States and various Western European nations, see the editorial note, p. 72. Telegram 205, January 16, to Paris, not printed, authorized the American Delegation to the Consultative Group meetings to state the Department of State’s position relative to the article and to emphasize to the Dutch the need for full multilateral agreement on controls and the establishment of the Consultative Group (840.00R/1–1650).
6. Telegram Repto 224, January 13, from Paris, not printed, reported that the Consultative Group plenary meeting of that date, with the Netherlands Delegate not present, agreed to recommend to their governments the acceptance without change of the subcommittee report on organization (London Embassy Files, Lot 59 F 59, 500 Marshall Plan).
7. Giovanni D’Orlandi, member of the Italian Delegation to the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, who subsequently did become permanent chairman of the Coordinating Committee.