Office of the Historian

611.946/297

Memorandum by Mr. Eugene H. Dooman of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs of a Conversation With the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy (Yoshizawa)

[Washington,] May 4, 1936.

Mr. Yoshizawa said that the Japanese Embassy had received from Tokyo instructions to inform the Department of the final position of the Japanese Government in regard to the restriction of imports of Japanese cotton textiles; that he had been directed by the Ambassador to make known the Japanese position to Mr. Dooman; and that, if the Department were of the opinion that “there is room for further discussion”, the Ambassador would be glad to call on Mr. Sayre.

Mr. Yoshizawa further stated that the meeting planned to take place today in Japan between Japanese officials and representatives of the textile industry had taken place, and that the final position, beyond which no concession could be made, was as follows:

1.
Owing to the opposition in Japan to the conclusion of further gentlemen’s agreements, any arrangement that might be made should take the form of a unilateral declaration by the Japanese Government.
2.
Japan will agree to a limitation of 40,000,000 square yards for the year begun April 1. This limitation is to apply to “imports for consumption”.
3.
The restriction shall apply only to those textiles covered by Item 904–B of the Tariff Schedule.
4.
The previous Japanese proposal that there should be no restriction on imports into Puerto Rico is withdrawn.

Mr. Dooman informed Mr. Yoshizawa that he would at once make a report to Mr. Sayre. Mr. Yoshizawa expressed the hope that it might be possible to give him a reply today, so that he could telegraph to Tokyo this evening and receive a reply by tomorrow morning.

There then took place a brief discussion in regard to the terms proposed by the Japanese. Mr. Dooman stated that it had been [Page 886] found about a year ago that no recovery could be made by those American mills particularly affected by Japanese competition if Japanese imports were substantially in excess of 35,000,000 square yards, and that he believed that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to justify the American Government agreeing to any such figure as that proposed. Mr. Yoshizawa agreed that the terms which he had presented were not responsive to the American proposal of annual limitation to 36,000,000 square yards. He wished, however, to stress the fact that the report of the Cabinet Committee on Textiles published last summer stated that imports from Japan would, if not regulated, exceed 42,000,000 for 1935, whereas the actual imports were 6,000,000 square yards less—which fact, in his opinion, was due to the control exercised by the Japanese Government.