493.119/8–1050
The Secretary of Commerce (Sawyer) to the Under Secretary of State (Webb)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Thank you for your letter of August 4 regarding the export of petroleum products to China and Korea. I am pleased to note that there is a complete cessation of petroleum exports from British controlled sources to China, North Korea and the Maritime Provinces of Siberia. It is my understanding that this cessation also applies to petroleum exports from Hong Kong to the areas in question.
The Department of Commerce is proceeding immediately to put into effect a comprehensive control of petroleum products to assure that the products listed in your letter will be subject to individual license control to all destinations. This will allow us to scrutinize carefully the possibility of transshipment to Soviet dominated destinations. As you know, the United States has not been approving any license applications for Communist China since June 30. All the petroleum products listed in your letter have been classified as 1A, with the result that export licensing will cease to other Soviet dominated destinations as well.
I note that the Department of State is undertaking to secure cooperation of additional American oil companies known to possess production and refining facilities outside the United States, and will undertake to secure the cooperation of other independent offshore [Page 660] producers important in international trade. This additional control is in our opinion necessary to achieve the objective, and we trust that you will be able to obtain such cooperation from all other offshore producers at an early date.
Sincerely yours,