U.S. Expected to Act on Japan Chip Dumping
The Reagan Administration, in a move that would raise the stakes in the high-technology trade dispute with Japan, is considered likely to file a “dumping” complaint shortly against Japanese producers of a strategic type of semiconductor chip.
The complaint would be the first such action by the government since the imposition of trigger-price mechanisms on imported steel in 1981 and 1978. Normally, such complaints are filed by injured companies or industries.
The action has been recommended to President Reagan by a Cabinet-level trade “strike force” chaired by Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, as previously reported.
Sources close to the discussions consider it a foregone conclusion that Baldrige will file the complaint with the President’s blessings.
“There’s absolutely no doubt about it,” said a former Reagan Administration trade administrator. A one-time trade adviser for the Administration called the anticipated action “a clear signal to Congress that the Administration does intend to be more aggressive in its trade policy.”
Special Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter, who is negotiating with the Japanese on the U.S. semiconductor industry’s request for better access to Japan’s market, told reporters Wednesday that a White House decision on the dumping case was delayed while those negotiations were conducted in Washington this week. But he said he expects a decision “soon,” and other observers said it could come by the end of the week.
The move could lead to costly tariffs on the newest generation of memory chips from Japan, known as 256K DRAMs, raising prices and giving tardy U.S. chip makers an opening to compete in that key market. Memory chips are the most common types of semiconductors used in computers.
In a related case Tuesday, the Commerce Department tentatively concluded that six Japanese firms had dumped--or sold at less than “fair value”--a less powerful type of memory chip, the 64K DRAM, in the U.S. market. That was in response to a complaint by Micron Technology of Boise, Idaho.
A White House complaint on 256K chips would have far greater ramifications, trade experts said. It would be a direct signal from the President on the importance he attaches to the issue, and the 256K chip is a more important product to the semiconductor industry.
Thus, it would be a more potent weapon in the ongoing negotiations over how to reduce this country’s record trade deficit with Japan. The high-technology portion of that deficit, estimated by the American Electronics Assn. to be $18 billion this year, is causing increasing concern in Congress.
The 256K memory chip, which holds about 256,000 bits of information, is replacing the 64,000-bit chip in what is a normal progression in the semiconductor market.
