NEWS
May 27, 1989 | SAM JAMESON, Times Staff Writer
Japan declared Friday that it will refuse to negotiate trade issues with Washington under duress but offered to seek solutions to American complaints that are presented without threats of retaliation. Three government officials separately rejected any negotiations based upon Washington's decision to retaliate against Japan under last year's Omnibus Trade Act if Japan fails to correct practices that keep American supercomputers, communications satellites and forestry products out of its markets.
BUSINESS
March 16, 1990 | SAM JAMESON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher warned Japan on Thursday that the imbalance in U.S. trade with Japan will be corrected one way or another, and Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) warned of sanctions, saying there is "no chance that Congress is going to throw cream puffs."
BUSINESS
May 13, 1989 | ART PINE, Times Staff Writer
The Bush Administration cautioned Friday that the lists it will publish May 28 setting priorities for attacking other countries' foreign trade rules are designed only to launch negotiations and will not necessarily result in U.S. retaliation. U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills issued the admonition amid intensifying rhetoric in Congress demanding that the United States "target" Japan and other countries for such action--as well as growing complaints from U.S. trading partners that Washington is acting illegally.
BUSINESS
April 19, 1989 | ART PINE, Times Staff Writer
A U.S. ceramics-manufacturing company that was to have been sold to a Japanese chlorine-producing firm has shelved the deal temporarily after indications that the Bush Administration was preparing to block the takeover on national security grounds. U.S. officials said the American firm, General Ceramics of Haskell, N.J., has agreed to revamp the offer to exclude a component that reportedly has been manufacturing parts for nuclear weapons under a contract with the Energy Department.
BUSINESS
April 29, 1989 | SAM JAMESON, Times Staff Writer
After a decline in fiscal 1987, the first in five years, Japan's trade surplus resumed expansion in fiscal 1988, rising to $95.3 billion, the Finance Ministry announced Friday. The surplus, despite an increase of 23.3% in imports, exceeded a government estimate by $2.2 billion. It was the second highest level since fiscal 1986, when it reached $102.1 billion. Akira Nishigaki, vice minister of finance, predicted that rising oil prices, continued expansion of manufactured imports and a slowdown in the economies of the United States and other major trading partners would ensure a decline in Japan's global trade surplus in fiscal 1989, which began April 1. He attributed last year's surplus to an unexpected decline in the price of imported oil. Global Exports Rise The growth of Japan's trade surplus was considered certain to put pressure on U.S. government officials compiling a list of "unfair trading partners," as required by the Omnibus Trade Act of 1988.
NEWS
May 26, 1989 | ART PINE, Times Staff Writer
President Bush began formal proceedings against Japan, Brazil and India on Thursday for allegedly unfair trade practices, raising the threat that the United States ultimately may retaliate if those countries do not reduce their trade barriers. The decision launched a new, more aggressive era of trade relations that some of America's economic allies have warned could risk a backlash if the United States goes too far. The list of allegedly "unfair" trade practices by Japan includes refusal by the Japanese government to buy U.S.-made satellites and supercomputers and Japan's stringent lumber standards, which officials say help keep out some U.S. forest products.