840.51 Frozen Credits/3302
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)
Mr. Iguchi called upon me at his request. He stated that he wished to discuss the matter of paying for the petroleum products, licenses to export which had already been granted, some of which were still under consideration.
He said that he had had a conversation with Treasury officials and had pointed out to them that the suggestion which they and I had previously made, that the cargoes be paid for by cash which had been withdrawn prior to the freezing order by the Japanese Government through the Yokohama Specie Bank, was not feasible because the present purchasers were Mitsui and Mitsubishi, whereas the cash had been turned over to the Japanese Navy. I said that I supposed that the Japanese Navy had some interest in having the oil shipments proceed and that it was not clear to me for what other purpose the cash could be used by the Japanese Navy or why it was not possible to have it made available for this purpose. He said that he had found that difficult to explain to the Treasury and intimated in a somewhat obscure way that the Navy was not subject to the civil authorities and had rejected the idea.
He then suggested that perhaps payment might be effectuated by transfers of Chinese money in Shanghai into dollars. I said that I thought that this was not desirable. He then suggested the possibility of the Dutch unfreezing dollars in the East Indies. I pointed out to him that a much simpler method would be either to use the cash or to transfer dollars on deposit with South American Banks. [Page 858] He said that he would look into the matter, discuss it with the managers of Mitsui and Mitsubishi who were to be with him this afternoon, and discuss the matter further with me.
Mr. Iguchi then asked me whether I had had an opportunity to discuss with the Secretary Mr. Iguchi’s suggestion that commercial relations be continued between the two countries by our agreeing to receive some imports from Japan and permitting the proceeds of those imports to pay for some exports from America. I said that I had not had such an opportunity because the Secretary had been very occupied in the last few days, but that I doubted whether Mr. Iguchi’s suggestion of silk as a desirable import would be met with favor in as much as it did not seem to be material of importance, and in these days we wished so far as possible to buy materials which were really needed. He asked me to consider the matter further, to talk with the Secretary about it, and suggested that we might point out any other imports which we would be willing to receive. He stated that this suggestion was his own and was not made by the authority of the Japanese Government, but that, if it met with favor, he would immediately take the matter up with Tokyo.
I suggested to Mr. Iguchi that there were in Japan considerable amounts of materials which had already been bought and paid for by Americans and were on their way to this country at the time of the freezing order, and which had subsequently been landed in Japan; that it might be an acceptable gesture of Japan’s desire to continue commercial relations if these shipments were brought to this country. He said that he would give this suggestion consideration and added that if a ship should be available to bring them it might also bring American citizens who wished to return to this country. He said again that he was most anxious to see relations continued by some movement of vessels.