741.53/119: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 29—4:42 p.m.]
4284. For the President and the Secretary. The following memorandum elaborating the references to economic concessions in my telegram No. 4228, June 26, midnight, was given me by Eden today.
In return for the facilities which the Portuguese Government have agreed to grant us in principle they will expect us to adopt a more forthcoming attitude than in the past in regard to their economic requirements. In particular they will want:
- (a)
- More generous treatment in regard to quotas and navicerts;52
- (b)
- Permission to increase stocks, more particularly of cereals, to provide against any German interference with their imports;
- (c)
- Help in procuring supplies, more particularly of steel and oil.
Owing to the secrecy of our negotiations these questions cannot for the present be dealt with through the usual machinery of committees [Page 534] and combined boards. They will, however, eventually have to pass through that machinery and it will be helpful if the President could at the appropriate moment direct the competent American departments to cooperate with His Majesty’s Government in the new and more forthcoming line now proposed in our economic relations with Portugal.53 The timing of this directive could be discussed later in the light of the progress of the negotiations.
As it is agreed that the Portuguese Government should if possible remain outside the war they must be permitted to trade with Germany. The most important item is wolfram and in the view of His Majesty’s Government we should acquiesce in a continuance of the present arrangements under which we receive the output of our own mines and 50 percent of the “free” wolfram. We shall also want to take certain measures to stop German smuggling of wolfram through Spain, or alternatively to compensate ourselves for this smuggling. This can, however, be dealt with separately.