Washington had considered concessions without being willing to guarantee them before formal talks. The United States might tolerate a limited Japanese position in China, support a merger of the Japanese-backed regime with Chiang Kai-shek's government, normalize trade, and place Japanese immigration on the same basis as other countries. In return, Japan would withdraw from areas outside that tolerated position, stay out of French Indochina, and loosen its ties to the Axis powers. A possible bargain existed, but the dispute over sequencing kept both sides from trusting it.
Notable Point · 1:12:49-1:14:09
What an American-Japanese settlement might have contained
The available bargain combined normalized trade and immigration treatment with Japanese withdrawal from disputed Chinese areas, abstention from Indochina, and distance from the Axis.