811.20 Defense (Requisitions)/35
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Ballantine)98
The Japanese Ambassador called at his request. He referred to his conversation with the Secretary on June 7 and said that he desired to have a further talk on this subject in order that he might be in position to clarify the situation to the Japanese Government as he feared that otherwise the Japanese people might be disposed to interpret our recent action in connection with the requisitioning of equipment and supplies as being inspired by a desire to impose pressure upon Japan. He referred to the recent action of the authorities at New York in examining outgoing shipments and he hoped that goods which had been bought and paid for by the Japanese would be allowed to go forward; that American manufacturers would be allowed to carry out delivery of articles which were already under contract and that in view of the general dislocation of international trade following the war he hoped that we could set up and maintain as liberal a policy as possible in regard to trade with Japan.
Mr. Berle stated that the measures which we have taken and further measures which we have in contemplation are not inspired at all by a desire to subject Japan to pressure and are entirely designed to meet [Page 578] our national defense needs. He said, speaking tentatively, that so far as present plans had developed it was contemplated prohibiting the export of a small list of articles but that so far as he knew this list did not include any items important in our export trade with Japan and that these articles were largely goods upon which we depended upon imports for our supply. Another class of articles would be subjected to a licensing system, probably machine tools would come under this class. The Ambassador inquired whether there were any plans for placing embargoes upon or restricting by license exports of scrap iron and steel. Mr. Berle said that so far as he knew there had been no discussion of any restrictions upon scrap iron and steel. Mr. Berle assured the Ambassador that he would keep the Ambassador’s desiderata in mind in connection with the development of further plans in our program for the conservation of resources and materials vital to our national defense.
The Ambassador said that unofficially he would like to call the Department’s attention to Section 2 (d) of H. R. 9858, introduced by Mr. Dies on May 22, 1940.99 This section reads as follows:
“(d) That the term for which any visa may be granted to an alien visiting the United States temporarily as a tourist, or temporarily for business or pleasure, shall not be extended more than once, nor shall the term for which the visa was issued and any extension thereof exceed in the aggregate a period of one year.”
The Ambassador observed that this bill, if enacted, would affect Japanese merchants now in this country who are engaged in international trade between Japan and the United States.1 Mr. Berle said that he had not seen this bill previously but would look into the matter.