Japan Eases Its Markets Stand : Way Paved for Greater U.S. Electronics Sales

After a year of tough negotiations, Japan has made major concessions in agreeing to open its markets to American telecommunications and electronics products, government and industry officials said Thursday.

“From a legal and regulatory perspective, I think we’d have to say everything is done,” U.S. negotiator Clyde Prestowitz said in Tokyo.

An electronics industry executive, who asked not to be identified, agreed: “We really feel our government negotiators have done a good, aggressive job of pursuing the issues we were interested in.”

The progress in opening Japanese markets will be emphasized today in a meeting here between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Japanese Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, officials in Washington indicated.

For the Reagan Administration, success in efforts to open Japan’s markets is vital politically. A failure to get more American goods into the hands of Japanese consumers, while Americans buy ever-growing volumes of Japanese products, could prompt punitive protectionist action by Congress, the Administration believes.

Japan had a trade surplus estimated at $50 billion last year in its commerce with the United States, making American companies and government officials eager to remove Tokyo’s barriers to American goods. Talks during the last year have focused on four types of merchandise: electronics, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and forest products.

Accord on Key Issues

Although progress has been intermittent, the Japanese have offered agreement on several key issues during the last few days. In telecommunications, Japan will accept test data from American manufacturers rather than insist on the laborious retesting of products in Japan. And the number of technical standards has been reduced, removing another potential obstacle to American goods.

“We are pleased with the results--we feel we have accomplished what we set out to accomplish,” Prestowitz told reporters in Tokyo. As a result, he said, Japan should become a “more open market.”

Prestowitz referred only to the telecommunications talks, but significant progress has been made toward agreements covering electronics and pharmaceutical goods also, government and industry sources in Washington said. The situation is unclear in the forest products talks, he said.

“We feel very upbeat about things,” said one U.S. trade official who asked not to be identified. Officials said the United States and Japan hope to reach agreements this month covering all the products.

Businessmen Frustrated

Telecommunications trade is a particularly sensitive issue between the United States and Japan because American technology is regarded as the most advanced in the world. But American business executives feel frustrated and stymied in attempts to market their wares in Japan.

“We have very competitive products, but we’re just not doing as well as we should in terms of sales,” one U.S. industry official said.

With the latest concessions, the formal government and regulatory barriers will be dismantled, a confident Prestowitz told reporters in Tokyo. However, other formidable unofficial barriers remain, such as the strong nationalistic preference of companies in Japan for “buying Japanese.”

Continuing Talks

Obstacles to American products in the Japanese distribution and marketing system will be an issue for continuing negotiations between the two countries.

American executives, although optimistic about the impending new agreements, say that success will be assured only when increased sales to Japan can be measured. During his visit here, Japanese Foreign Minister Abe will discuss the complex trade issues with Shultz, Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige and Special Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter.