Executive Secretariat Files: NSC 92 Series
Memorandum by the Executive Secretary (Lay) to the National Security Council
top secret
Washington, December 6,
1950.
Subject: The Position of the United States Regarding a
Blockade of Trade With China
| References: |
A. NSC 92 |
|
B. Memo for NSC from Executive Secretary, same subject,
dated December 4, 1950 |
A report by the Department of State on the subject (NSC 92) was submitted by the reference
memorandum for urgent consideration by the National Security Council,
the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce and the
Economic Cooperation Administrator.
As of this date the Secretary of Commerce and the Economic Cooperation
Administrator have approved the statement of policy contained
[Page 674]
in the last paragraph of
NSC 92, and the Secretary of the
Treasury has indicated that he does not concur in NSC 92, and submits for consideration the
comments contained in the attached memorandum.
Accordingly, the enclosed memorandum by the Secretary of the Treasury is
submitted herewith for urgent consideration in connection with NSC 92.
[Annex]
Memorandum by the Secretary of the Treasury
(Snyder)
to the National Security
Council
top secret
[Washington,] December 6,
1950.
Subject: The Position of the United States Regarding
a Blockade of Trade With China
Reference: NSC
92
The Secretary of the Treasury does not concur in NSC 92 and submits for consideration
the following comments.
The Secretary of the Treasury concurs in the emphasis placed by
NSC 92 upon the desirability of
multilateral action in applying any economic sanctions against the
Chinese Communist aggressors. The memorandum, however, fails to
indicate what steps are being taken to obtain appropriate
multilateral action, or to consider the policies which this
Government should pursue in the event that such action appears to be
unobtainable, or is too long delayed. The memorandum further fails
to deal with the action already taken unilaterally by this
Government in the trade field in relation to the problem of applying
blocking controls.
It should be emphasized that a trade embargo and a blocking of assets
are essentially concomitant parts of a single policy action. To
restrict China’s imports of United States goods without restricting
its ability to transfer dollars so as to import similar goods from
other countries is inconsistent. In this connection it must be
recognized that the present action of this Government with respect
to export trade to China, while nominally one of placing all exports
to China on an individual license basis, is tantamount to a de facto embargo upon export trade. The
Government is thus now in the position of implementing conflicting
policies in the related fields of trade and finance.
While some delay may be possible in implementing financial controls,
any such delay in making our trade and financial policies consistent
can be justified only on the assumption that we are actively
pursuing the objective of obtaining multilateral action, and only so
long as there appears to be a reasonable prospect of obtaining early
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multilateral
agreement. This Government should be free to act at any moment that
it becomes apparent that either of these assumptions are not
justified.
