611.6131/312: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 25—2:30 p.m.]
158. Your 79, April 20, 3 p.m. When calling to pay my respects to Litvinov today I mentioned the fact that I had a draft of a note to present to him with regard to the extension of most favored nation treatment to the Soviet Union in exchange for a promise in respect of Soviet purchases in the United States. Litvinov replied “I thought the matter was already settled. I assured Mr. Wiley we would increase our purchases in the United States to double the amount of our purchases last year.” I replied that in our opinion a written understanding was more desirable than a verbal agreement. I mentioned the figure you gave of $30,000,000 worth of Soviet purchases and he replied that it might be possible for the Soviet Union to buy that much this year but that the Soviet Union would find it difficult to agree in writing to do so. I told him that I did not wish to go into the matter in detail as my call was merely one of courtesy but that I would call on him with the draft of note within the next 2 days.