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America’s trade embargo against China and the East in the Cold War Years

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Abstract

This article traces the evolution of the American policy from 1947 of persuading the Western nations to embargo the export to the Soviet Union, and after 1949 to the PRC, of all technology or machinery used in the production of military weapons. The recent war demonstrated that technology would win the future wars and the communist countries must be stopped from stealing the West’s technology. The Truman administration drew up long lists of items to be banned, and the President Eisenhower continued the process with US embassy officials policing the operation. The Kennedy administration lessened the intensity of its ban that slightly favoured China although President Johnson reimposed the prohibitions and it was left to President Nixon along with Dr. Kissinger to lessen the East–West trade embargo and soften the relationships.

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Notes

  1. ‘China’s Role in International Affairs, 17 August 1948’, General Records of the Department of State, Records for the Far East Reports 1946–1952, RG 59 National Archives and Records Agency, hereafter NARA.

  2. ‘Relief and Rehabilitation Conditions’, 15 June 1946, ibid.

  3. Report by Secretary of Defense, 27 September 1948, Records of the Secretary of Defense, RG 330, NARA.

  4. Letter ‘Committee of Two’, 3 November 1947, Records of Secretary of Defense, RG 330, NARA.

  5. Letter, Defense Department 16 May 1952, Records of Secretary of Defense, RG 330, NARA.

  6. Report of General Wedemeyer, 26 September 1947, Records of Secretary of Defense, RG 330, NARA.

  7. Intelligence Report, 2 November 1948, Records of Secretary of Defense, RG 330. NARA.

  8. Report from Defence Department, 22 October 1948, Records of Secretary of Defense, RG 330, NARA.

  9. Report by Chairman Ad Hoc Subcommittee to Chairman Advisory Committee, 4 May 1948, RG330, NARA.

  10. For an introduction to the Marshall Plan see Steil, Ben. 2018. The Marshall Plan Dawn of the Cold War. New York: Simon & Schuster Publishing.

  11. Economic Cooperation, Economic Act.

  12. Paris US Embassy to State Department, 12 December 1950, RG 469.

  13. Bonsal to State Department 26 January 1951, ibid.

  14. US embassy Paris to State Department, 26 January 1951, ibid.

  15. Christopher Waters, The Empire Fractures: Anglo-Australian Conflict in the 1940s. Melbourne, 1995, pp. 183–85.

  16. ‘US Controls Over Transactions with Communist China’, 3 March 1954, RG 469, NARA.

  17. National Security Council Progress Report on US Policy on Economic Defense 30 August 1954, RG59.

  18. NSC Progress Report on US Policy on Economic Defence, 30 August 1954, RG 59, NARA.

  19. ‘Hansard’, 26 July 1954, Economic Defence Advisory Committee, 5 August 1954, RG469.

  20. President Eisenhower was concerned over CoCom causing disharmony with the allies, but he saw no alternative to the China differential.

  21. US Mission to North Atlantic to Secretary of State, 17 December 1954, RG 286.

  22. ‘United States Attitude Towards East–West Trade’, FO371/12 121929.

  23. Copy of the US letter to the French Government sent to British Foreign Office, 4 January 1957, 371/121929, NARA.

  24. Ian Jackson, The Economic Cold War: America, Britain and East West Trade, 1948–1963, Palgrave, UK 2001, pp. 154-55.

  25. Report 31 December 1959, FO 371/151970, National Archives, London.

  26. ‘Office of the Secretary of Defense, Suggestions for Reimposition of Trade Controls’. 7 November 1958, RG 59, NARA.

  27. ‘Electronic Components’, July 1959, RG 489, NARA.

  28. ‘Export of Aluminium Ingots to East Germany’, 4 April 1960, RG 489, NARA.

  29. ‘Second U.K. Proposal to Decontrol Items’, 6 October 1969, RG 489, NARA.

  30. Memorandum of Discussion at the 460th Meeting of the NSC, 21 September 1960, FRUS, Vol. iv (1958–60), p. 778.

  31. FO report, 14 November 1962, FO 371/164528, National Archives, London.

  32. Kennedy to Secretaries of Commerce, State and Defense, 19 September 1963, RG 59 NARA.

  33. ‘The Effectiveness of Existing Export Controls’, c. February 1963, FO371/164514, National Archives, London.

  34. Defence Paper, ‘The Red List’, 10 June 1966, FO 371/169706, National Archives, London.

  35. Letter From the Earl of Home to Mr. G. W. Ball, 7 April 1961, FO 371/164505, National Archives, London.

  36. Automotive Gear and Axle Production in Poland, 17 March 1970, RG 489, NARA.

  37. Telegram to Secretary of State, 21 May 1970 RG 59, NARA.

  38. State Memorandum, ‘Sale of Tridents to China’, 7 May 1971, RG 59, National Archives, London.

  39. State Department to Tokyo Embassy, COCOM List Review and China Differential’, 2 April 1971, RG 59, NARA.

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  1. University of New South Wales, Canberra, Australia

    Frank Cain

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  1. Frank Cain
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Correspondence to Frank Cain.

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Cain, F. America’s trade embargo against China and the East in the Cold War Years. J Transatl Stud 18, 19–35 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42738-019-00037-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s42738-019-00037-7

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