Japan did ask Germany to lean on Vichy, and we read their request in the Magic documents. They requested the help in return for "keeping the US busy in the Pacific." However, before Germany could act on their request the Japanese decided to go ahead and execute their plans to occupy northern IndoChina. It gave them a launching point for attacks against southern China, but it also provoked FDR into ordering an embargo on aviation grade gasoline. (Some of his cabinet members got together and changed his order to read "all" petroleum products. FDR, when he found out about that decided not to countermand it and give the appearance of divisiveness in his administration.)
The embargo, however, was inevitable, because the Japanese were waging aggressive war in China and there were other factors at work:
Britain wanted all the spare fuel we could sell them. They were our #1 foreign customer.
Army and Navy heads were begging that the US strategic reserve be built up.
As a result of #1 & #2 above the US drivers couldn't get gas on Sundays in many locations. "Why are we sending fuel to Japan so they can kill Chinese when we don't have enough for our own use?"
The embargo "sealed the deal" for the Japanese advance into 南方資源地帯 (Nampo shigen chitai (The Southern Resources Area)) to secure fuel from the Netherlands East Indies (NEI).