Could Japan buy natural resources from European colonies before WW2?

Question

Internationally, this was a time when "free trade" was in disrepute. The great powers not only jealously protected their special economic rights within their colonies and spheres of influence, but sought to bolster their sagging economies through high tariffs, dumping of goods, and other trade manipulation. The Japanese, with few natural resources, sought to copy this pattern. They used cutthroat trade practices to sell textiles and other light industrial goods in the East Asian and U.S. markets, severely undercutting British and European manufacturers. They also developed sources of raw materials and heavy industry in the colonies they established in Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria. Japan used high tariffs to limit imports of American and European industrial products.

The Japanese military faced a particular tactical problem in that certain critical raw materials — especially oil and rubber — were not available within the Japanese sphere of influence. Instead, Japan received most of its oil from the United States and rubber from British Malaya, the very two Western nations trying to restrict Japan's expansion. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's embargo of oil exports to Japan pressured the Japanese navy, which had stocks for only about six months of operations. Columbia.edu

Almost every source is scarce in details, but the fact they only got oil from two sources seems to suggest some colonies didn't allow other countries to buy oil from them severely limiting growth for countries without raw natural resource access.

Could Japan buy natural resources from European colonies before WW2? I am wondering if Japan could buy natural resources from their colonies and if not I am wondering if there was any support for liberalizing market access to other non-Imperial countries and if there was any progress made on that front during that time, because if it's the case, then I don't understand why Japan wanted colonies for itself.

Answer 1

It could, and they pressured for instance the Netherlands (cabinet in exile) to sell them more (via the Royal-Dutch Shell), threatening to invade the Dutch East Indies in case their request was not satisfied.

But the Netherlands largely refused fearing that they'd be diverting supplies from allies to a potential enemy. On Nov 12, 1940, two Dutch companies (Shell and Stanvac) agreed to provide Japan (only) with a third of the supply Japan was demanding from them. Moreover, the contract specified that Japan was to arrange for tankers to pick up the oil.

The British then applied behind the scenes pressure convincing a lot of third party tanker owners not to ship to Japan, so ultimately Japan was not even able to pick up the oil that was contracted with the Dutch. (This does somewhat reminds me of how Maersk [openly, though] embargoed Russia, recently, even though technically they aren't required to.)

Additionally, the contract was in US dollars, and in late July 1941, the US froze the relevant Japanese accounts (in response to them taking over Vichy Vietnam territory). So further payments for the Dutch oil could not go through either, from then on. (Think how Bank of Russia is presently sanctioned.) The last Japanese tanker with Dutch oil sailed in early August.

Reference: Irvine H. Anderson, Jr., "The 1941 De Facto Embargo on Oil to Japan: A Bureaucratic Reflex", Pacific Historical Review, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3638003

Answer 2

You're mixing two elements that are concurrent in the war, but not complementary. This false premise leads to your question.

On one hand, the fact that Japan needed resources for war and even during time of peace. On the other hand, the fact that Japan wanted to control European colonies. But the first hand is not the only cause of the other hand.

The main cause for the war is the idea of a powerful Japan able to control China and parts of Asia and Pacific. For that, two things are necessary:

• Secured access to raw material
• Geographical security

The problem is that USA pressured British and the Netherlands to enforce the oil embargo against Japan and to keep opened the road to supply China through Burma. So Japan was forced to attack all the European coloniesto secure raw material access.