Omnibus Trade Act

India Refuses Trade Talks: India will not negotiate with the U.S. over its citation for violating the U.S. Omnibus Trade Act, the Press Trust of India reported. Last month, the United States cited India under section 301 of the 1988 trade act for impeding direct foreign investment and closing the Indian insurance market to foreign firms. The law allows the United States to levy tariffs of 100% on Indian goods if negotiations fail to remove the barriers within 18 months.

President Bush's Cabinet-level Economic Policy Council recommended Thursday that the Administration not cite Japan for alleged unfair trade practices this year, even though following the recommendation appears certain to spark a backlash in Congress. The unanimous decision is to be announced formally today. Bush, who was not at the meeting, is expected to approve the Cabinet recommendation intact, key Administration officials said.

U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills thought her speech would be right on target when she flew to Chicago to address a trade conference earlier this month. It turned out to be 180 degrees off the mark. Her remarks were on 1992--the effort by Western Europeans to create a single integrated market by that year. But the questions from the audience--mainly complaints about perceived unfair trade practices--were all about Japan. "She was really taken aback," an aide said later. Hills' listeners in Chicago are not the only Americans who are up in arms over U.S. trade relations with Japan.

The Bush Administration is rapidly moving toward a decision not to cite Japan for alleged unfair trade practices this year--a move certain to spark a backlash in Congress, which enacted the 1988 Omnibus Trade Act expressly for that purpose. The decision, described by key officials as all but made, is being held up pending final resolution by Tokyo of a number of narrower-interest trade disputes--primarily a 1989 case involving Japanese barriers to U.S. wood products.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

Well, you really blew it ("Tehachapi Booster," Letters, Feb. 18). When I make that major, final move, Tehachapi is no longer a contender. And I had been gleefully hoarding this secret knowledge for so many years. Even though you children of the "me" generation are incapable of understanding my concern, your parents may. Particularly, if they are native-born Angelenos over 60. They will recall L.A.

The United States and Japan reached agreement Wednesday on a plan for resolving U.S. complaints about Japanese barriers to imports of American-made telecommunications equipment, heading off a threatened imposition of trade sanctions by Washington next month. The accord, hammered out early Wednesday after a week of round-the-clock negotiations, will enable Motorola Inc. to expand its sales of cellular telephones to the profitable Tokyo and Nagoya markets. Motorola has been confined to western Japan.

India Refuses Trade Talks: India will not negotiate with the U.S. over its citation for violating the U.S. Omnibus Trade Act, the Press Trust of India reported. Last month, the United States cited India under section 301 of the 1988 trade act for impeding direct foreign investment and closing the Indian insurance market to foreign firms. The law allows the United States to levy tariffs of 100% on Indian goods if negotiations fail to remove the barriers within 18 months.

When Bush Administration officials were debating which countries to cite last month for unfair trading practices under the 1988 Omnibus Trade Act, their overwhelming goal was to satisfy Congress. That they did, by singling out Japan, Brazil and India as top priorities for retaliation because those countries had not met U.S. demands that they lower their trade barriers. But here in Paris, the Administration learned the hard way that what plays with Congress may not go down well overseas.

Japan agreed Wednesday to begin wide-ranging talks with the United States on a series of broad economic issues that the Bush Administration says are impeding progress on reducing the gaping U.S. trade deficit. The agreement to start the talks was worked out at a meeting of Cabinet officers from both countries, including Japanese Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno, who has been tapped to be Japan's next prime minister. The Japanese also indicated that, while still formally protesting last week's threat of possible trade sanctions, they will negotiate on U.S. complaints that it is trading unfairly in supercomputers, satellites and lumber.

President Bush's Cabinet-level Economic Policy Council recommended Thursday that the Administration not cite Japan for alleged unfair trade practices this year, even though following the recommendation appears certain to spark a backlash in Congress. The unanimous decision is to be announced formally today. Bush, who was not at the meeting, is expected to approve the Cabinet recommendation intact, key Administration officials said.

Japan agreed Wednesday to begin wide-ranging talks with the United States on a series of broad economic issues that the Bush Administration says are impeding progress on reducing the gaping U.S. trade deficit. The agreement to start the talks was worked out at a meeting of Cabinet officers from both countries, including Japanese Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno, who has been tapped to be Japan's next prime minister. The Japanese also indicated that, while still formally protesting last week's threat of possible trade sanctions, they will negotiate on U.S. complaints that it is trading unfairly in supercomputers, satellites and lumber.

The Bush Administration appears to be heading into a barrage of criticism from its major economic allies over its decision to threaten Japan and other countries with possible retaliation if they do not eliminate trade barriers that the United States calls "unfair." The assault is expected to come this week at the annual ministerial-level meeting of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a forum of industrialized countries. The 24-country session begins today.

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.