Office of the Historian

83. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom1

Washington, December 10, 1955—12:32 p.m.

3258. For Ambassador. Please deliver following personal message from Secretary to Macmillan.

“Dear Harold:

At the National Security Council meeting yesterday, I talked with the President and the other members of the Council about the situation which might result from your proposal unilaterally to remove articles from the CHINCOM trade control list.

There was a strong feeling, in which the President concurred, that if there is unilateral action in these matters, the result will be not only a collapse of the entire cooperative structure but also a high degree of ill-feeling, as between our nations.

We are quite prepared to sit down and talk about the list, and no doubt we can agree on some liberalization. I do, however, hope that you will not make this a matter of unilateral action.

The President expressed the hope that we could talk this over when you and Sir ANTHONY are here on January 30. The purpose of our getting together is, I assume, to talk over matters of mutual concern and try to reach common policies. It would, I think, not be a very good prelude to this meeting, if, two weeks before we met, your government took unilateral action on a matter which is considered here, in governmental, Congressional, and public circles, as being of the utmost importance.

I think it most desirable that you hold up any action until we can talk it over. In the meantime we are prepared to have our experts sit down with yours so that there will be some available data by the time you and Sir ANTHONY get here.2

Faithfully yours, Foster Dulles”

Dulles
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 493.419/12–1055. Secret; Priority.↩
  2. In Dulte 1 from Paris, December 15, for the President and the Acting Secretary of State, Dulles reported that Macmillan had told him that day that, while it would be very difficult for them, the British Government would not take any effective action on the question of trade with China until the issue had been discussed during the upcoming trip of Eden and Macmillan to Washington. (Ibid., 493.009/12–1555) Dulles and Macmillan were in Paris attending a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, December 15 and 16.↩