Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990 TAG: 9003242306
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Officials at the U.S. trade office said they had achieved major concessions that should boost supercomputer sales in the important Japanese government market, estimated to total about $130 million annually.
Terms of the agreement were hammered out late Thursday following a two-day bargaining session. The U.S. side had demanded that the Japanese remove various restrictions that effectively barred U.S. companies from selling supercomputers to Japanese universities and other government agencies.
"We believe the results reached last night, when finalized, should give us full and effective access" to the Japanese government market, said U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills.
The accord reached on supercomputers marked the first resolution of a variety of trade disputes straining relations between the two economic giants. It gave U.S. officials hope that progress will be made in other areas in coming weeks.
Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady was in Los Angeles on Friday for talks with Japanese Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who reportedly wanted to brief the Bush administration on Japanese efforts to lessen trade tensions between the two countries.
The discussions were a followup to a hastily arranged summit meeting earlier this month between President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu.
Bush pressed the Japanese government to do more to open their markets to U.S. products as a way of reducing America's $49 billion trade deficit with Japan, accounting for almost half of the U.S. deficit.
A U.S. trade official said the Japanese exhibited a new sense of urgency in the latest round of computer talks this week.
"Their negotiators came with instructions to make a deal. There has been a lot of high-level political pressure," said the official, who spoke on condition that his name not be used. "We hope the Japanese will perceive the same kind of guidance in the other issues."
In addition to supercomputers, the administration is holding talks on Japanese purchases of satellites and lumber products. Negotiators in these areas, however, have reported little progress thus far.
The Japanese are facing a June 19 deadline to show a willingness to open their markets or face the prospect that the administration will retaliate by raising tariffs on Japanese products sold in America.
Members of Congress said the supercomputer agreement, which could be signed formally as soon as next month, was encouraging but would need to be followed by concrete results.
"Japan must recognize that promises without performance are simply unacceptable," said Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., noted that a 1987 agreement by the Japanese to buy more American supercomputers had not produced results. He said it would be a mistake for U.S. negotiators to declare victory too soon.
"Nonetheless, progress is always encouraging. I hope this is a sign that the United States and Japan can jointly work out their trade frictions," said Baucus, who is chairman of the Senate trade subcommittee.
The talks on specific industries are being conducted under a section of the 1988 trade law known as Super 301. The administration also is conducting separate discussions aimed at eliminating broader structural impediments to trade that make it difficult for U.S. firms to get their products to Japanese consumers.
Negotiators on these issues met at a remote hideaway in the Virginia countryside earlier this week in advance of more formal discussions in Washington on April 2 and 3. However, U.S. officials said the discussions near Warrenton, Va., had failed to make any progress.
But there have been reports from Tokyo that Kaifu is preparing an array of trade concessions in these areas in an effort to dampen growing protectionist sentiment in Congress.
Under the computer agreement announced Friday, the Japanese promised to open the procurement process for supercomputers to foreign firms and to base government purchase decisions on quality as well as price.
Access to the government supercomputer market has long been a point of contention between the two countries.
U.S. firms, in particular Cray Research Inc., have dominated the global market for the sophisticated machines but have been unable to sell their products to the Japanese government.
by CNB