Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. refused petroleum, scrap iron, and steel desperately needed during war. This is evident in the document "US Economic Sanctions Against Japan and It's Aid to China during the Sino-Japanese War". Japanese supplies of steel, scrap iron, and petroleum decreased substantially corresponding …show more content…
In a speech by Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo, he remarks that "The U.S. has not conceded a single point; it simply makes strong demands on Japan." Tojo is referring to how the United States would only resume trade of petroleum and other supplies with Japan if Japan was willing to remove the troops they had stationed in China. America wanted Japan to remove all their troops form China, and would not budge or negotiate on this. According to "How Economic Warfare Provoked Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor" by independent.org, "According, the Roosevelt administration, while curtly dismissing Japanese diplomatic overtures to harmonize relations, imposed a series of increasingly stringent economic sanctions on Japan." The sanctions placed on Japan by the U.S. we're very wrong, and the U.S. was unwilling to change them. The U.S, was not working diplomatically with Japan, so Japan decided to resort to violent methods of