U.S., JAPAN TRADE TIES REMAIN HOSTILE
The visit this week by a special
Japanese envoy has done little to defuse Japan's trade
frictions with the United States, U.S. and congressional
leaders say.
    White House and congressional leaders took a wait-and-see
stance, after a series of meetings with former Japanese Foreign
Minister Shintaro Abe, who was here paving the way for the
April 29-May 2 visit of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

    They are withholding judgment until Nakasone's visit, with
one senator saying Japan had promised to stimulate its economy
and open its markets to foreign goods in the past, but it was
time now for action.
    The U.S. trade deficit last year was a record 169.8 billion
dlrs, with more than one-third of it in trade with Japan.
    Congress is ready to approve tough trade legislation to try
to turn around the deficit, which has cost millions of U.S.
jobs and closed thousands of factories.
    Much of the anger has been directed at Japan.
    U.S.-Japan trade friction was further fueled by President
Reagan's April 17 decision to impose 100 pct tariffs on 300 mln
dlrs worth of Japanese goods in retaliation for unfair
practices in semiconductor trade.
    Reagan said he imposed the tariffs on personal computers,
television sets and hand tools because Japan failed to keep an
agreement to end dumping semiconductors in world markets at
less than cost and to open its home market to U.S. products.
 
    Abe had asked Reagan to end the tariffs quickly, but U.S.
officials said the curbs would not be dropped until Japan had
shown it was honoring the pact, which could take several
months.
    White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, asked if Nakasone's
visit might help to defuse trade tensions, said "whether
progress can be made depends on how you want to measure it."
    He added, "I would expect progress to be made. If you want
to measure that in terms of lifting the sanctions, that's more
doubtful."
    Congressmen were equally skeptical.
    Abe met Senate and Democratic leaders active in trade
legislation, telling them of Japan's plan to spur domestic
spending by 34 billion dlrs and open its markets to a wide
range of goods, including supercomputers and farm products.
    Sen. John Danforth, a Missouri Republican, said after the
meeting, "We have heard promises in the past, but the question
now is whether there will be real action."
    Abe also met House leaders pressing for a tough trade bill,
including Congressman Richard Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat.
    Gephardt is sponsoring legislation to penalize nations with
large deficits and which are guilty of unfair trade practices.
    Gephardt's legislation would hit Japan, as well as Taiwan,
South Korea, and West Germany. The bill is expected to pass the
House next week - coinciding with Nakasone's visit - but its
fate in the more moderate Senate is uncertain. A bipartisan
group of senators, however, told Nakasone in a letter released
as Abe was holding Senate meetings, that fresh Japanese-U.S.
trade strife would erupt if Japan's markets were not soon
opened to American goods.
    The signers included Democratic leader Robert Byrd of West
Virginia, Republican leader Robert Dole of Kansas and others
ranging from moderate to hardline on trade issues.
    They said in the letter there was growing U.S. sentiment
that Japan was fighting opening its markets and "evidence to the
contrary is necessary to combat this perception, or it is
likley that additional efforts will be attempted to close off
the American market to Japanese goods.
  
 Reuter
