681.003/205
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Aide-Mémoire
1. With reference to the Embassy’s aide-mémoire dated September 18, 1935, and left at the Department of State on September 23, relative to the proposed economic measures and reforms in the French Zone of Morocco, and the International Zone of Tangier, the Government of the United States wishes at the outset to voice its appreciation for the clear and logical expression of the British position set forth therein.
2. The Government of the United States is in substantial agreement with the opinion expressed in Paragraph 5 of the Aide-Mémoire, to-wit:
“… that the interests of the other Powers in Morocco are in the long run best likely to be served, not by a policy of uncompromising opposition to any change, but by seeking, as and when necessary, agreed solutions such as will accord to France a reasonable measure of satisfaction without involving serious injury to the interests of the other Powers.”
It is likewise animated by a desire to find a practical solution of the commercial problems which have arisen in the past five years. It recognizes that the French Protectorate authorities depend largely on import duties for revenue and in this spirit it has already suggested that a higher tariff on goods entering Morocco would not be unacceptable to it.
(3) As to the institution of a system of quotas, the United States is most reluctant to acquiesce in the extension of a system which it feels is unsound economically as well as inherently discriminatory in purpose. The whole commercial policy of the Government of the United States as manifested by its trade agreements program and by the pronouncements of its leading statesmen, has been to set its face [Page 998] against the extension of the quota system. If, therefore, any other solution to the Moroccan problem can be found, this Government would be unwilling to make a breach in its determined effort to counteract the evil effects of quotas.
(4) The Department of State is now undertaking a study of the problems suggested by the British Government’s aide-mémoire, and it is hoped that the major questions of principle and policy in this respect may be determined within a few weeks.90 The Government of the United States will then be in a position to open the question anew with the British authorities, and in the meantime it would be much appreciated if the British Government would reserve its final decision until an opportunity for further discussion of these problems has been afforded.
- The Department of State replied by aide-mémoire on April 27, 1936.↩