U.S. MAY END ADDITIONAL SANCTIONS AGAINST JAPAN
The United States may lift an
additional 84 mln dlrs in trade sanctions against Japan later
this month, Reagan Administration officials said.
    President Reagan imposed 300 mln dlrs in sanctions on
Japanese goods last April for its failure to honor a 1986
agreement to end dumping semiconductors in the U.S. and third
country markets and to open its home market to U.S. goods.
    The move raised tariffs to 100 pct from about five pct on
Japanese color television sets, hand-held power tools and
portable computers.
    Reagan lifted 51 mln dlrs of the sanctions last June  after
Japan ended selling the semiconductors on the U.S. market at
below production costs.
    Semiconductors are the small silicon chips used for memory
and recall purposes in a wide variety of computers.
    The Administration officials said Commerce Department 
monitors showed that Japan was ending its dumping of the
semiconductors in third countries, where they had been taking
sales away from American-made semiconductors.
    They said it was likely the 51 mln dlrs in sanctions would
be lifted by the end of the month.
    The United States and Japan remain at odds over opening the
closed Japanese markets to U.S. goods.
    U.S. and Japanese officials reviewed Japan's compliance
with the agreement earlier this week.
    The periodic reviews are to continue and the remaining
sanctions to stay in force, the officials said, until Japan is
in full compliance with the semiconductor agreement.
 reuter
