United States. The Export Control Act is passed, with which the United States, at the instigation of President F.D. Roosevelt, seeks both to procure resources and raw materials, in a climate of growing war conflict and international tension, and to cut Japan off from those same resources through an embargo. This initiative will be followed, in March 1941, by the Lend Lease Act, through which the United States significantly finances the procurement of raw materials, food, and goods, and the rearmament of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China. Financing is achieved through loans with repayments deferred for years, and through donations. In July and August 1941, the United States escalates its confrontation with Japan, closing its passage through the Panama Canal and imposing an embargo on Japanese oil and gas. Japan has resources for a maximum of two years and must decide what to do.
