U.S.-Japan Trade Gap Expected to Worsen

The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan predicted Friday that a “persistent rise in the U.S. trade deficit with Japan will continue.” He criticized American business men and the U.S. government for failing to take steps to correct the imbalance.

AT the chamber’s annual membership meeting, Herbert F. Hayde summed up a year of efforts aimed at solving U.S.-Japan trade problems. And he faulted Japan’s Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone as well the Americans, saying that a series of market-opening moves that Nakasone announced in April “failed to produce the results the U.S. Congress desires.”

But he also praised Nakasone for taking “major steps to ensure transparency in (Japanese) rule making and the decision-making process,” and he added: “Foreign voices are now being heard and are being taken seriously.”

Hayde offered qualified praise for a so-called action program, announced by Nakasone on July 30, that is aimed at simplifying Japanese standards and certification procedures.