That is true, but we had no legal right to stop them. We declared economic war on Japan, they subsequently attacked us, and the rest is history.
I am not defending Japan, but there are too many naive folks that believe the Peal Harbor attack was unprovoked.
We didn't stop them. They were free to trade elsewhere. Attacking Pearl Harbor was not required.
The U.S. had every right to embargo U.S. goods in protest of Japanese barbarism in China;and it was in the U.S. interest that anything that could be done to limit the attempts of any group that believed its members were destined to rule all others and claimed the right to instant obedience or summary execution of the soldiers and civilians taken captive by them.