811.20 Defense (Requisitions)/46
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The Ambassador of Japan called at his request and proceeded to refer to the holding up by this Government of certain Japanese purchases of machine tools and machinery. The three points he brought up are as follows: (1) while his Government understands our needs in [Page 577] connection with rearmament, it does feel that the contracts on which these purchases are based should be carried out; (2) that in any event his Government requests that this Government sort out such of the machine tools and machinery as it desires to appropriate for machine defense purposes, and lift the ban from the shipments to Japan of the remainder; (3) that the Japanese Government is very much concerned to see as nearly normal trade relations kept up between our two countries as may be possible and urges action by this Government that will contribute to the fullest practical extent in this respect. I referred the Ambassador to our reply of some days ago to the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy on this general subject,97 especially as it related to the holding up of the shipment above referred to. There was little new to add to the merits of the three points he raised. I emphasized that this policy was not intended for any one government in particular.