Special Japan Envoy Being Sent to U.S. to Ease Trade Dispute

Alarmed by moves on Capitol Hill to enact protectionist legislation, Japan said today that it will send a special envoy to Washington in a bid to defuse a mounting trade dispute with the United States.

A Foreign Ministry official said Reishi Teshima, deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, will leave Thursday for Washington “to explain the Japanese position” to U.S. officials “in view of recent moves in the Congress.”

Masayuki Fujio, chairman of the policy board of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also said Japanese officials will probably invite U.S. senators and congressmen to Tokyo in mid-April to discuss trade issues.

Japan has recently taken new steps to liberalize some of its markets and promote the sale of foreign goods.

But the Reagan Administration insists that Japan has not gone far enough to open up to American goods its markets in telecommunications, electronics, forestry products, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Congress Impatient

Administration officials have so far opposed retaliatory measures but Congress--impatient with the slow pace of negotiations in the face of a $37-billion U.S.-Japan trade deficit--has moved against Japanese imports.

The Senate Finance Committee passed a measure Tuesday that would call for retaliation against Japan unless the deficit is reduced. The House also approved a non-binding resolution calling on Reagan to restrict Japanese imports unless Japan moves to buy more U.S. goods.

In an unusually blunt statement today, Takao Fujinami, chief Cabinet secretary and government spokesman, said the Senate bill “is not only a discriminatory bill singling out Japan but also a threat to the entire free trade system itself.

“The government of Japan strongly hopes, for the sake of good bilateral relations between Japan and the United States as well as for the development of world trade, that the bill will not pass the U.S. Congress,” Fujinami said.

Action ‘Very Severe’

Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe said in Parliament, “I cannot understand the attitude of the U.S. Congress, which blames everything on Japan.” He called the Senate committee action “very severe.”

Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who has been attempting to balance American and domestic political pressures in an effort to ease the crisis, also told Japanese reporters that the congressional actions are “very severe.”

Nakasone faces tough domestic opposition as he tries to fulfill market-opening pledges made to President Reagan at their Los Angeles summit Jan. 2. The prime minister plans to announce a new trade package aimed at meeting many of the U.S. demands next week.

Japan’s lucrative telecommunications market, denationalized Monday, has been the focus of especially intense negotiations.

Agrees to Two Steps

The State Department reported Tuesday that Japan has agreed to two steps aimed at further opening its telecommunications market to U.S. exporters and that negotiations to loosen technical standards and certification procedures are continuing.

The Kyodo news agency quoted government sources as saying the package of market-opening measures to be unveiled Tuesday would eliminate tariffs on imported industrial products over a three-year period beginning next year, and lower tariffs on agricultural goods.

Kyodo said the package would simplify technological data required on imported telecommunications equipment, lead to abolition of tariffs on computer components and lowering of tariffs on forestry products, and ease the entry of drugs and medical equipment.

The new measures “will affirm the government’s basic policy of free trade in response to criticism not only in the United States but also in Europe and Southeast Asia against Japan’s closed markets,” Kyodo said.