Office of the Historian

493.119/11–2250

Memorandum by the Ambassador at Large (Jessup) to the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council (Lay)

[Extract]
top secret
[Washington,] November 22, 1950.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

III

United States Policy Toward Trade With China

For some months prior to the start of the Korean war, the Department of State has, as a practical matter, considered the policy statement set forth in paragraph 3f (page 4) of NSC 48/2 to be the overall policy guide for United States trade with China and in this sense to have, in fact, superseded NSC 41. This policy statement has proven to be a sufficiently flexible statement of policy to make possible a phase of permissive export controls, and the current phase of virtual embargo. It is, in the view of the Department of State, broad enough in its terms to make possible the administrative measures which may be called for by developments in the Far East over the next few months.

For the background information of the members of the NSC Senior Staff, there are attached copies of the following letters:

1.
From the Secretary of State to Secretary Johnson dated April 28, 1950.
2.
From the Secretary of State to Secretary Sawyer dated June 8, 1950.
3.
From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce dated June 30, 1950.

It is the view of the Department of State that the NSC Senior Staff should not, at this juncture, undertake a review of NSC 48/2 because of the flexible character of the policies in that document and because of the desirability of awaiting the results of the intelligence studies which have been recommended in the foregoing section. The Department of State is, however, at the same time, giving careful scrutiny to NSC 48/2 and to the Secretary’s letters of April 28 and June 8 in [Page 664] an effort to restate in the light of the widened multilateral controls for East-West Trade, economic and political developments in the Far East, and relevant domestic, political and economic factors, the United States position on trade with China for consideration by the NSC Staff.

The Department of State proposes to submit to the Council a final progress report on NSC 41 in order to make clear on the record that this paper is considered out of date and superseded by the appropriate policy statements of NSC 48/2.1

Philip C. Jessup
  1. Mr. Jessup submitted the final progress report on NSC 41 along the indicated lines on November 22 (NSC 41 series).↩