740.00112 European War 1939/8–544: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
London, August 5,
1944—8 p.m.
[Received August 5—6:50 p.m.]
[Received August 5—6:50 p.m.]
6285. For Department and FEA from Riefler and Lovitt. Reference your 6095, August 2.
- 1.
- Keller replied orally to second letter in the sense stated in Embassy’s 6134 of August 1. At a meeting yesterday he said controls are being instituted in Bern to prevent export of substitutes for ball and roller bearings. We are still waiving a definitive letter.
- 2.
- The “ceiling sun [sum]” referred to in second paragraph of the telegram referred to the export ceilings for items on Annex I. The Swiss have taken unilateral action to control exports to Japan and transit through Switzerland. Keller stated that exports to Japan had fallen to a value of 1000 pounds for May 1944. Subject is discussed in Emb’s despatch 14924 of April 7, telegrams 2813, April 6 and 3140 April 17.90 Transit through Switzerland is being taken up further in Bern. The point made by Keller with respect to both of these subjects was that the Swiss unilaterally had taken action in the direction we desire without asking for a specific quid pro quo and that they hoped their unilateral action would have some effect on our attitude toward Switzerland.
- 3.
- The information on type of locomotive was sent you in Embstel 2286, March 21.91 In explaining the high price of 125,000 Swiss francs per locomotive, Keller stated that even in normal times the cost of locomotives in Switzerland was considerably higher than in the United Kingdom and that prices had advanced 80 to 100% since the war.
- 4.
- At the meeting yesterday Keller orally explained that the 4 weeks’ notice was a maximum and that the Swiss might be able to effect changes in their trade agreement with Germany in less than 4 weeks. He also stated that in the event of a major development, such as the total dislocation of the German economy, the Swiss could suspend all [Page 758] exports immediately basing their action on the rebus sic stantibus principle. We made it clear that we could not be bound by any term in the Swiss-German agreement.
- 5.
- Embassy’s despatch 15475 of May 692 gives you a list of Swiss overseas stocks. The Swiss own considerably more cotton and wool overseas than they are now requesting and Keller stated that we could determine which stocks we would prefer the Swiss to take. [Riefler and Lovitt.]
Winant