World Trade: ‘Coming Unglued’

Your editorial (Dec. 29), “Trade: Coming Unglued,” is the repetition of complacency we have had toward the trade deficit problem for so long.

We don’t have to look for those scary figures in the book. On the California streets, in the parking lots, we give a sigh of relief when we find a domestic car. Cameras, motorcycles, electric gadgets, watches, office machines, gift shop souvenirs, etc., are mostly from Japan.

We have so long generously (President Reagan and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone are on first-name basis) and heedlessly let the Japanese invade our country with their merchandise while being unable to penetrate their tightly protected market.

Japan rakes in money from every corner of the world. Yet they are so stingy on human relief or genuine assistance in the poor countries, unless, again, they make some money out of this.

This unfair and unreasonable transfer of wealth to only one nation in the world at the expense of everyone else has to be stopped. How do you expect our children to repay this horrible debt incurred by their parents who were so thoughtless to live beyond their means?

T.K. CHOE

Northridge