116. Editorial Note
On August 17, the Advisory Committee on Export Policy discussed a proposal by the Department of Commerce to place an export quota on ferrous scrap and semifinished steel products. At the Secretary of State’s staff meeting of August 18, Dulles was informed of this development. (Notes of the Secretary’s Staff Meeting; Department of State, Secretary’s Staff Meetings: Lot 63 D 75) Later that morning, the Secretary discussed the Commerce proposal with President Eisenhower during a telephone conversation. A memorandum of that conversation, prepared in the office of the Secretary, reads in part as follows:
“The Sec. said something had come up in staff mtg this morning which disturbed him. The Commerce Dept was planning to put on an export quota on steel scrap. That will raise havoc with the Coal and Steel Community etc. The price has gotten up a little and they want to have the export quota on to break the price. Sec. said he didn’t like it coming on top of the cotton thing, bicycles, Chief Joseph Dam. The President said he hadn’t heard about this one. The President said we might say that this was very much against the [Page 325] President’s (logic). President said he could see placing an embargo on it in case of war but didn’t understand this. Sec. said that it was taken up in the Dodge Cmte. The President wanted to know if Commerce could do this without his approval. They discussed this and agreed Commerce couldn’t. The Pres. suggested we call Commerce and say the Pres. has gotten wind of this and did not want any action until it has his approval.” (Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, White House Telephone Conversations)
The Commerce proposal was distributed to the Council on Foreign Economic Policy as CFEP 532/1 at the opening of the Council meeting held at 3:30 p.m. that same day. (Department of State, E–CFEP Files: Lot 61 D 282A, CFEP 532) During the meeting, which was attended by Dulles, the CFEP agreed that Commerce “had not presented sufficient justification for the establishment of the proposed export quotas on scrap at this time.” It was also recognized that additional factors which had not been presented might warrant a further review of the matter by the Council at a later date and the CFEP accordingly requested Commerce to prepare a new study on this subject. (Minutes of the 26th meeting of the CFEP; Eisenhower Library, CFEP Records)
The question of export controls on ferrous scrap and semifinished steel was considered further at the next meeting of the Council, held on August 30. According to the minutes of that meeting, drafted by Cullen, the following decision was reached:
“It was agreed that present circumstances do not clearly indicate a long-term problem sufficiently serious to justify either temporarily or permanently changing the foreign economic policy with respect to export controls. However, it was recognized that there is the possibility that a more serious situation may develop that would make it necessary to take steps to protect the availability of the domestic scrap supply. Therefore the problem should be kept under close scrutiny by interested Departments and the CFEP for further consideration when and if circumstances more clearly indicate the need for action.” (Minutes of the 27th meeting of the CFEP; ibid.)
Additional documentation on the scrap question is in Department of State, E–CFEP Files: Lot 61 D 282A, CFEP 532; ibid., RA Files: Lot 58 D 374, CSC–Scrap; and Eisenhower Library, CFEP Records.