With the collapse of the Moscow conference, U.S. officials felt they could finally deal with the problem of European recovery. Even before the meeting, they had begun to envision a new economic assistance program that would include Germany. They could now incorporate the western zones, without either the constraints of Potsdam or Soviet interference. Such advantages seemed to overshadow the forfeit of the eastern zone.

By summer, the Americans were discovering that the movement toward partition did not immediately ease the task in western Germany. In elaborating their economic agenda, they were challenged by the French, who still wished to block German industrial revival. They also faced serious opposition from the British, who in association with the German SPD and the trade unions, were pressing for socialization and expanded worker rights.