Japan may accept limits on machine tool sales.

Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige said Japan may soon be willing to accept voluntary limits on certain machine tool exports to the United States. “They (the limits) are needed,” Baldrige said. “Our machine tool industry is in real danger of getting far behind in several major categories.” The domestic machine tool industry has been hard hit by imports, which captured 41% of the U.S. market last year, nearly double their 1980 share. Baldrige, who was at the International Machine Tool Show in Chicago, said a delegation met with Japanese officials during the last two weeks of August. The talks began after the National Machine Tool Builders Assn., the industry’s trade group, appealed for import restraints on national security grounds.