811.20 (D) Regulations/3552

The Chief of the Division of Controls ( Green ) to the Administrator of Export Control ( Maxwell )

The Administrator of Export Control: It is recommended, on behalf of the Committee designated by the Secretary to act in liaison with you, that there be prepared for presentation to the President at the earliest possible moment a draft of an Executive Order subjecting [Page 784] the following iron and steel products to the licensing requirement:

Metal drums and containers (having a capacity of forty gallons or more) for petroleum products.

Storage tanks, new or used, for petroleum products and knocked-down material for such tanks.

The exact definitions of these articles should, of course, be determined by experts of the interested agencies of the Government and the above are merely suggested as a basis for discussion.

It is also recommended that oil well drilling equipment be subjected to the licensing requirement at the same time. Whether this can be done by a simple directive under the existing regulations concerning equipment for the production of aviation lubricating oil or whether action by the President in this case also will be necessary is a matter which I assume you will wish to decide.

It is understood that you are considering the advisability of subjecting to the licensing requirement certain other iron and steel manufactures. It is suggested that it would be desirable from the point of view of foreign policy, if you do intend to add any such articles to the licensing list, that they be added simultaneously with the metal drums, storage tanks and oil well drilling equipment referred to above.

Joseph C. Green
  1. Probably January 23; see also proclamation No. 2456 and Executive Orders Nos. 8668 and 8669, of February 4, Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, pp. 241, 242, and 243.