740.51112A/11–1644
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Bonnet)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of the French Republic, and with reference to the Embassy’s note no. 670 of November 16, 194420 regarding French participation in the consideration of cases for inclusion in and deletion from the Proclaimed List, has the honor to state that the Department of State is prepared to discuss with the French Provisional Government any listing case which may be considered by the French authorities to be of interest to it.
The Embassy’s note refers to the fact that it has been agreed by French, British and American representatives that a permanent membership be established for France on the Black List Committee in London. This action is in keeping, as the Embassy’s note points out, with the great importance to France of commercial and other relations with the neutral European countries. Moreover, as it is contemplated that listing controls will have much greater post-war significance in the European neutral countries than with respect to the other American republics, France will naturally wish to participate to a greater degree in the study of European cases than in Western Hemisphere ones. In view of this, the French authorities may not wish at a time when the peak of listing activity has passed to establish an elaborate organization for Western Hemisphere listing administration and assign thereto the requisite large number of officers and other personnel. Rather, it is assumed from the instant note and from the Embassy’s companion note no. 669 of November 16, 1944 that France’s chief interest is in discussing some but not all Western Hemisphere listing cases, usually those involving French interests, with the appropriate representatives of the American Government in a regularized manner. The Department of State will be very pleased, therefore to arrange for regular consultations and exchanges of information and views on any cases which the French authorities may care to raise. Any person or concern will be considered by the interdepartmental [Page 211] Proclaimed List Committee for deletion at the request of the French Provisional Government. The latter will have called to its attention any cases under consideration for addition to or deletion from the Proclaimed List in which a French interest appears, in order that it may be informed and be given an opportunity to express its views seasonably.
It is believed that the collaboration so greatly desired by both Governments can best be accomplished by arranging for the appropriate officers of the Embassy’s staff to meet regularly, perhaps weekly, with the Acting Chief of the Division of World Trade Intelligence in the Department of State. At this time there could be discussed cases which the French representative had previously indicated he desired to bring up. Also, at such regular meetings, views could be exchanged regarding cases involving French interests which are pending for interdepartmental action within the American Government. The Department of State will undertake to supply the Embassy with the appropriate memoranda regarding such cases.
There is no body involved in the administration of the Proclaimed List for the Western Hemisphere comparable to the Black List Committee in London. The Interdepartmental Proclaimed List Committee, which meets regularly for the consideration of listing cases, is a small operating body composed of technicians; and its function is to obtain unanimity of opinion between the various departments and agencies of the American Government which by Presidential Proclamation are charged with responsibility for the administration of the Proclaimed List. No foreign power has a representative on this Committee. It is comparable to the Standing Committee in London, which is similarly restricted, rather than to the Black List Committee. As the British Commonwealth engaged in listing and other economic warfare operations on a major scale in the Western Hemisphere before the United States established the Proclaimed List in July 1941, the British Missions, headed by the British Embassy in Washington, have long been organized for the purpose of expediting collaboration with the United States on all listing cases arising in the other American republics. For mutual convenience British and Canadian observers attend the meetings of the Interdepartmental Proclaimed List Committee in order to speed the great volume of routine work performed there. Cases involving particular problems or interests, however, are usually discussed at regular weekly meetings between representatives of the British Embassy and the Department of State, in the same manner as suggested above for Franco-American collaboration. Unless the French Provisional Government is prepared, at a time when it is foreseeable that listing activity will shortly decrease in the Western Hemisphere, to establish both at home and abroad the necessarily [Page 212] elaborate machinery for reviewing and initiating action on all listing cases, it is not believed that a situation comparable to that of the British will exist regarding attendance at meetings of the Interdepartmental Proclaimed List Committee, considering its technical composition and necessary compactness. In order that the French authorities may fully weigh these considerations, the Embassy is most cordially invited to have a representative attend several meetings of the Interdepartmental Proclaimed List Committee as a visitor. Additionally, if it should develop in the joint study of certain cases that efficiency would be gained by having a French representative participate in discussion before the Committee, the Embassy will be invited to have an officer attend meetings of the Committee for that purpose.