894.24/1066
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of Controls (Yost)
Mr. Morito Morishima, Counselor of the Japanese Embassy, called this afternoon in regard to the gasoline export situation. Mr. Morishima first expressed his appreciation for the Department’s action in authorizing the Universal Oil Products Company to proceed with the fulfillment of its 1928 contract with the Japan Gasoline Company. [Page 597] He then turned to the question of the new restrictions on exports of aviation gasoline and said that Japanese business men had been startled and disturbed to find that the definition of aviation gasoline contained in the President’s regulations of July 2633 was broader than had been at first believed and that it apparently covered most types of crude oil and of motor gasoline. I told Mr. Morishima that the definition was couched in rather obscure technical language and that an attempt was now being made to prepare a clarification in simple terms which might be circulated to collectors of customs and to interested exporters. I added that I hoped that this clarification would be ready in a day or two. Mr. Morishima said that he trusted that it would not develop that the embargo applied to crude petroleum and motor gasoline as well as to aviation gasoline, since in this case he feared that Japanese importers might be obliged to reduce their purchases of cotton in this country. I made no comment on this remark.