Japan Defends New Trade ‘Action Plan’ : Washington Offers Lukewarm View of Potential Benefits

The Reagan Administration gave a lukewarm welcome Tuesday to Japan’s latest plan for expanding imports, saying that its promise of long-term benefits might fall short of the action needed to stave off a growing push for trade protectionism in Congress.

The plan, announced Tuesday by Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, “comes at a crucial time in Japan’s trading relations with the United States” and other nations, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said.

Quicker Action Urged

But Speakes called for the program to be “implemented in a more timely fashion” than the three-year phase-in revealed in Nakasone’s announcement. And he said that the Economic Policy Council, the Administration’s special Cabinet-level committee for trade and economic issues, immediately would “begin a thorough examination and analysis of the plan.”

In another announcement Tuesday, the Commerce Department said that the nation’s trade deficit for June hit a near-record $13.4 billion, of which a record $4.6 billion was with Japan. That included a 21.4% increase in auto exports, for which quotas were abandoned last April.

For the first six months of the year, the U.S. trade deficit totaled $70.7 billion as the country seemed assured of far surpassing last year’s record deficit of $123.3 billion.

Tuesday’s Japanese proposal consists primarily of a complex 87-item mixture of relaxed import restrictions, including simplified product standards and easier review procedures, that would take effect over three years.

Many senators, who since April have taken the lead in pushing protectionist legislation aimed at Japan, were quick to suggest Tuesday that the import proposal is too little, too slow and too late.

Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.), chairman of the Senate Finance trade subcommittee, said he believes that “Congress should still enact legislation insisting on results and imposing penalties on Japanese products if results are not forthcoming.”

Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program, Danforth charged that, while “the words sound great, we’ve heard great-sounding words before--and the question is, is this truly going to be translated into more American sales in Japan?”

The ranking Democrat on Danforth’s subcommittee, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, also pronounced himself skeptical, noting: “The Japanese bureaucracy long ago mastered the hidden trade barrier.”

‘Seventh Such Package’

Meanwhile, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said that the Congressional Research Service had studied the Japanese statement and concluded that many of the new plan’s components were duplicated in earlier Japanese trade packages.

“This is the seventh such package announced by the Japanese since 1981,” Levin said. “It should not be surprising that we are less than optimistic.”

On the House side, Jim Peyser, the staff director of the Export Task Force set up last spring to monitor all trade issues, said the proposal had not yet been analyzed. He said the group’s staff would be briefed on the proposal at the Japanese Embassy today.

But House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), in a speech to the National Press Club, said he would move forward with punitive legislation to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from countries that maintain an overwhelming trade surplus with the United States.

Protectionist Legislation

“How do you know when the Japanese are serious?” he demanded in response to a questioner. “I don’t care what the negotiations are, I’m going to push this legislation. All we’re asking them is to open up their markets.”

Speakes, reading the White House statement to reporters, was careful to stress President Reagan’s personal belief that Nakasone intends to live up to his commitment last January to work toward a more open trading climate in Japan. Tuesday’s announcement, Speakes said, fulfills Nakasone’s promise to have a trade program before the end of July.

“However,” he added, “it is difficult to determine from the announcement whether the program will remove the bulk of these barriers in timely fashion. . . . While a long-term effort is welcome, earlier implementation would help resolve crucial trade problems confronting us today.”