611.4131/8–2745: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
7317. For Clayton and Collado. Department strongly supports your insistence that there can be no transition period financial arrangements without satisfactory understandings on commercial policy.11 The British should understand that not only are the arrangements tied together but financial conversations would be fruitless unless conducted simultaneously with and as a part of larger discussions embracing the entire agenda which you have submitted. We are equally concerned with the absence of any ranking members of the British group on the commercial policy side and strongly approve your calling this to their attention. We think it essential that the group contain members thoroughly familiar with this part of the agenda and that they have as much Cabinet approval as possible for them to obtain. Otherwise our proposals and time schedules will suffer another serious setback.
Until there is clarification on the foregoing points, the Department is inclined not to notify the Dominions of the general talks. Before suggesting that the Dominions have representatives available for simultaneous discussions, it is important to have some confidence that the discussions with the British will be comprehensive and productive of agreement.
- Messrs. Clayton and Collado had conveyed this position to the Secretary of State in telegram 8674, August 25, 4 p.m., from London. They had also reported having arranged an agenda for talks with the British in Washington in September covering, in general, lend-lease, financial questions, commercial policy, and surplus property disposal. (841.24/8–2545)↩