Office of the Historian

75. Telegram From the Delegation at the Foreign Ministers Meetings to the Department of State1

Geneva, November 16, 1955—6 p.m.

Secto 335. I told Macmillan today that I hoped UK could hold up any action on China Trade Control List until we had chance to use it as a bargaining counter in our bilateral talks with the Chinese Communists.

Macmillan said he would try to do so if I had a limited and definite purpose, though the Board of Trade would be opposed. He asked me to write him a letter giving him facts and reasons he could use.

Merchant earlier sent Kirkpatrick and De Margerie of French Delegation identical letters setting forth our arguments.2

I will send Macmillan personal note in confirmation our talks and referring to letter sent Kirkpatrick.3

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–GE/11–1655. Secret. Repeated to London and Paris.↩
  2. Merchant’s letters to Sir Ivonne Kirkpatrick and Roland Jacquin de Margérie were delivered on November 16. In the letters, Merchant suggested that the strategic controls produced “an effective pressure” on the Chinese Communists and that the United States did “not want to throw away this major counter without getting something for it.” Accordingly, he stated the United States “would wish strongly to urge the United Kingdom and France not to press for reduction of these controls at this time. We shall hope that our three Govts could agree either to postpone the holding of a consultative group meeting until the United States-Chinese talks have progressed further, or, if that is not feasible, to adhere to a common position along the above lines in the Consultative Group meeting.” The verbatim text of Merchant’s letter to Kirkpatrick was transmitted to the Department in Secto 341, November 16.(Ibid.)↩
  3. Dulles’ letter to Macmillan, dated November 16, reads in part as follows: “This will confirm our talk this afternoon in which I expressed my strong hope that you would be able to hold off any action in the matter of controls on trade with Communist China until we had the opportunity to utilize this possibility in our current bilateral negotiations with the Chinese Communists in Geneva.” He also enclosed a copy of Merchant’s letter to Kirkpatrick, sent earlier in the day. (Ibid., Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204, Dulles to Macmillan)↩