Editorial Note
Sections 5 and 11 of the Trade Agreements Act of 1951 (Public Law 82–50), approved by Congress on June 5 and signed by President Truman on June 12, required the President, as soon as was practicable, to take action to deny the benefits of trade agreement concessions to imports from the Soviet Union and Soviet-dominated states of Eastern Europe. Such trade agreement concessions were provided for by the U.S.–U.S.S.R. commercial agreement of August 4, 1937, the U.S.-Bulgarian commercial agreement of August 18, 1932, the U.S.-Romanian commercial agreement of August 20, 1930, the U.S.-Hungarian Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Rights of June 24, 1925, and the U.S.-Polish Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Consular Rights of June 15, 1931. In accordance with the provisions of the Trade Agreements Act of 1951, the Department of State undertook to terminate the commercial agreements with the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, and Romania and to seek appropriate modification of the Treaties with Hungary and Poland. Appropriate notes were sent to the Soviet Embassy on June 23, the Romanian Legation on June 27, the Hungarian Legation on July 5, and the Polish Embassy on July 5. Inasmuch as the United States had suspended diplomatic relations with Bulgaria in February 1950, appropriate notification was made to the Bulgarian Government through the Government of Switzerland. For text of the statement issued to the press by the Department of State on July 6, explaining the actions denying import concessions to the Soviet Union and its satellites in Eastern Europe and including the texts of the notes to the Soviet, Romanian, Hungarian, and Polish missions in the United States, see Department of State Bulletin, July 16, 1951, pages 95–96.
In a note of August 8 to the Embassy in Poland, the Polish Foreign Ministry declined to accept the modification of the U.S.-Polish Treaty of June 1931 and accused the United States of having already extensively violated the treaty by denying export licenses to Poland, by discriminating against Polish ships, by hampering the functions of the Polish restitution and repatriation missions in the United States zone of occupation in Germany, and by refusing to hand over to Poland German war criminals. For the text of the [Page 1268] Polish note, which was published in the Polish press on August 10, see Documents on the Hostile Policy of the United States, pages 110–115. Acting on instructions from the Department of State, the Embassy in Warsaw on September 20 replied to the Polish Foreign Ministry rejecting as “unworthy of serious consideration” the contention of the Polish Government that the United States was proposing modification of the Treaty of 1931 in order to sanction formally the violations of the Treaty by the United States. The note of September 20 also briefly refuted some of the allegations raised in the Polish note of August 8. (Telegram 107 to Warsaw, September 14, 611.484/8–1351 and telegram 256 from Warsaw, September 18, 611.484/9–1851)
In a note of September 18 to the Legation in Bucharest, the Romanian Foreign Ministry briefly acknowledged the United States note of June 27 and concluded with the following observation:
“The Rumanian Government considers the above-mentioned decision of the Government of the United States of America—which is in contradiction with the recent declarations of the Government and Congress of the United States which speak of their desire to ‘live in friendship with all other peoples and cooperate with these’—as an act providing the hostile policy of the Government of the United States against the Rumanian People’s Republic and seeking the further deterioration of the relations between the United States of America and the Rumanian People’s Republic, a policy responsibility for which lies entirely with the Government of the United States of America.”
The text of the Romanian note, which was published in all Bucharest newspapers on September 25, was transmitted to the Department of State as an enclosure to despatch 94. September 19. (411.6631/9–1951)
On August 1 President Truman signed a proclamation (Department of State Bulletin, August 20, 1951, page 291) giving effect to sections 5 and 11 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951 which suspended trade concessions for Communist-dominated countries. The date of implementation of the suspensions with respect to individual Eastern European countries varied with the different procedures for termination of the treaties and commercial agreements with those Eastern European countries. On August 1 President Truman informed the Secretary of the Treasury of the suspension, as of August 31, of trade agreement concessions on imports from Albania, Estonia, East Germany, Latvia, and Lithuania and several Far Eastern areas. (Ibid., pages 291–292) On September 17 the President notified the Department of the Treasury of the suspension, as of October 17, of concessions on imports from Bulgaria. (Ibid., October 1, 1951, page 550) Subsequent notifications were [Page 1269] made by the President with respect to Czechoslovakia on October 2 (ibid., October 15, 1951, page 621) and with respect to the Soviet Union and Poland on November 23 (ibid., December 3, 1951, page 913). As of January 4, 1952, only Hungary among Communist-dominated states continued to enjoy most-favored-nation treatment in trade with the United States. The U.S.-Hungarian Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Rights of June 24, 1925, required a full year’s notice for termination.
Documentation on the denunciation of commercial agreements and treaties of friendship, commerce and consular rights between the United States and the Communist-dominated states of Eastern Europe are principally included in files 411. **4 and 611. **31 (where the asterisks indicate the file number for the country concerned).