15. US Sanctions Took the Japanese Government to the Edge
America responded to Japan’s seizure of French Indochina with severe sanctions that bit deep. Until Japan withdrew from China and French-Indochina, the US embargoed the sale of products vital to Japan, particularly oil, and froze Japanese assets. The British and Dutch, whose Dutch East Indies (today’s Indonesia) oil fields fueled Japan’s economy, followed suit. That cost Japan 75% of her overseas trade, and 90% of her oil.
The loss of trade was bad enough. The loss of access to oil was worse: Japan had oil reserves for only three years of peacetime consumption, or a year and a half months of wartime consumption. Once the reserves ran out, Japan’s economy would simply crash. That presented Japan with a dilemma: bow to the sanctions, or forcibly seize the resources, particularly oil from the Dutch East Indies and rubber from British Malaya, that her economy needed? Japan’s rulers feared that they would be reduced to an American client state if they caved: what was to stop the US from coercing Japan with sanctions again in the future? Between that, pride, and the fear of losing face, Japan’s rulers chose war.