As the initial step in an effort to flood the American market with Nazi-made goods by means of “merchandise compensation transactions,” the German-American Board of Trade on Friday held the first of a series of meetings to discuss barter possibilities. About thirty representatives of export trade groups attended the meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Following a two-hours session behind closed doors, a statement was issued that the board “has undertaken certain steps towards the realization of barter and merchandise compensation transactions to further commercial relations between these two countries.”
What the “certain steps” are was not disclosed by officials. We have reached no definite conclusions,” a spokesman declared.
“As very much general interest has been shown in such propositions during the past few weeks and to facilitate this work, “the official statement said,” the Board of Trade considered it important to call this meeting of representative groups interested in either exporting American goods to Germany or importing German merchandise into the United States at the Waldorf Astoria.”
“Leading American business groups interested in commerce between the United States and Germany are represented,” it concluded.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.