Initially, Müller favoured diplomatic relations with the Soviets only as far as they would help in preventing an integration of Upper Silesia into the new Polish state. He viewed the Treaty of Rapallo (1922) as a true peace treaty, but one that only had meaning within the context of a successful diplomatic policy towards the western powers, not as an alternative to it. Müller warned against attaching too much hope to the potential economic gains from the treaty, arguing that only the US would be in a position to provide effective aid for the economic reconstruction of post-World War I Europe.