Japan Dumping Chips, U.S. Says

The Commerce Department, in a ruling on a major U.S.-Japan trade dispute, said today that Japan has been dumping computer memory chips in this country at below-production costs in violation of U.S. trade laws.

In announcing the decision, the Commerce Department also set the level for stiff tariffs which will be imposed on the chips, known as 64-kilobyte dynamic random access memory components. The tariffs will not become final for 45 days while the government determines whether imports of the chips are materially injuring the U.S. computer industry.