US firms see Japan trade back on Washington radar

[Reuters]

TOKYO, March 3 (Reuter) - Trade issues with Tokyo appear to
be back on Washington's official radar screen after being
somewhat subdued during the U.S. election campaign last year, an
executive of a U.S. business lobby group said on Monday.
``We do have a transition period (in the new Clinton
administration),'' said American Chamber of Commerce in Japan
(ACCJ) governor John Stich at a news conference at which the
group issued its latest U.S.-Japan Trade White Paper.
``However, all the signals are very positive that Washington
will be supportive,'' he added. ``In my personal opinion, I
think we are all hopeful that trade is 'on again'.''
ACCJ officials will appeal to U.S. administration officials
and members of Congress later on Monday not to flag in their
efforts to get Japan to remove persistent trade barriers and to
ensure that existing trade pacts are fully implemented.
``They will take this message to senior administration
officials and many members of the Senate and the House: namely,
the absolute requirement for full implementation of agreements
and the need for America to keep a priority focus on the many
remaining persistent and detrimental Japanese market barriers,''
Stich said in unveiling the 1997 white paper.
Another ACCJ governor, Kiyoshi Ide, summed up the litany of
U.S. corporate complaints in the White Paper, which covered
barriers in 38 sectors ranging from agriculture and air
transport to telecoms and wood products. The White Paper is
issued every two years.
``Japanese companies in the United States enjoy a freedom to
operate unfettered by irrational and non-transparent regulations
-- something we can only dream of in Japan,'' Ide said. ``There
is a lack of reciprocity in the ability to pursue business
opportunities in the two countries.''
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers grabbed the
currency market's attention on Friday when he warned Japan
against trying to export its way out of its economic woes and
urged it to restore domestic demand-led growth and repair its
financial system.
Summers, in Tokyo for talks among finance and central bank
officials from five Asian economies and the United States on
Tuesday, will hold bilateral talks with Japanese officials
including Finance Minister Hiroshi Mitsuzuka on the same day.
U.S.-Japan economic friction was mostly on the back burner
in 1996, but economists say tempers could flare if Japan's trade
surplus starts to rise again due to the weak yen.
Last week the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said it
would slap $100,000 surcharges on Japanese vessels calling at
U.S. ports in retaliation for what it termed ``unfavourable
restrictive practices'' at Japanese ports. The commission said
the surcharges would become effective on April 14.