September 6, 1940. In April 1941, the cabinet was reorganized and Toyoda was requested by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe to become Minister of Commerce and Industry. After careful consideration, Toyoda decided to leave the Imperial Japanese Navy; however, his letter of resignation was not accepted and he was promoted to full admiral and transferred to reserve duty instead. Admiral Mineichi Koga who had switched to the world of politics as well, was critical of Toyoda’s attempted resignation, accusing him of using the navy as a stepping stone to a political career. After only three months, a cabinet reshuffle became necessary due to the forced resignation of the increasingly strident pro-Axis Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka. Toyoda, who had earlier opposed the Tripartite Pact and was vocal in this opposition to prospects for war with the Soviet Union, replaced Matsuoka as Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 18, 1941. One of his first priorities was to attempt to smooth over the rapidly deteriorating diplomatic relations with the United States, and he dispatched Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura as ambassador to Washington DC. Toyoda also advanced plans for a face to face meeting between Prime Minister Konoe and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, the negotiations failed to occur. In July, Toyoda also predicted that the further Japanese aggression southwards per the Nanshin-ron policy, and specifically plans for the Japanese occupation of French Indochina would lead to a total trade embargo by the United States, if not war. In October 1941, the entire Konoe Cabinet resigned. Later career After his resignation from the cabinet, Toyoda accepted the post of director of the nationalized Japan Iron and Steel Works. He was finally able to pursue his interest in improving steel production, a topic in which he had shown much interest since his days as director of the Kure Naval Arsenal. Between the last half of 1941 and the first half of 1942, Japanese steel production decreased for lack of workers. Toyoda improved work methods and initiated welfare programs for children who had graduated from junior high school and for Korean workers as well as for those who had lost their jobs. By ensuring that there was always a steady work force, work conditions improved, which allowed steel production to keep up with war-created worsening conditions that created problems in maintaining the necessary amount of resources. Toyoda remained distant from politics but in March 1943 he was