The early French plans were concerned with keeping Germany weak and strengthening the French economy at the expense of that of Germany (see the Monnet Plan). French foreign policy aimed at dismantling German heavy industry, placing the coal-rich Ruhr area and Rhineland under French control or at a minimum internationalize them, and also joining the coal-rich Saarland with the iron-rich province of Lorraine (which had been handed over from Germany to France again in 1944).[1] When American diplomats reminded the French of what a devastating effect this would have on the German economy, France's response was to suggest the Germans would just have to "make the necessary adjustments" to deal with the inevitable foreign exchange deficit.[1]