Panel Studies Trade Retaliation Amid New Rebuff From Japan : Tokyo Opposes Imports of U.S. Supercomputers

A Cabinet-level panel today weighed possible trade retaliation against the makers of a wide range of Japanese-made electronic products as the State Department charged anew that Japan continues to dump its goods overseas while keeping its own markets largely closed to foreign competition.

The meeting of the President’s Economic Policy Council came amid reports that the Japanese have sharply rebuffed efforts by U.S. companies to sell so-called supercomputers in that country.

“On the issue of semiconductors, we do have a bilateral agreement with the Japanese, which isn’t working well, and our data suggests that the dumping of Japanese semiconductors continues in third-country markets and the sales by foreign producers, in Japan, are not increasing,” said State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman.

They Have Commitments

“We think the Japanese should take the necessary steps to fulfill their commitments. We know there are interagency deliberations under way on that issue and I cannot comment on them,” Redman said.

“We have been told by the Japanese government that we should not even try to sell supercomputers to Japan,” one high-ranking Administration official said today, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Supercomputers are large and extremely sophisticated computers that work with lightning speed. The Reagan Administration has been seeking to clear the way for the sale of U.S.-built models to Japanese government agencies and to universities and other institutions in Japan.

Chip Issue Separate

The supercomputer issue is a separate one from the computer chip case before the Cabinet. However, the Japanese hard-line position on this form of advanced computer has helped to fuel Cabinet sentiment for taking strong action against Japan on computer chips, Administration sources said.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters accompanying President Reagan to Columbia, Mo., that he did not anticipate a decision today from the Economic Policy Council.

The sources said it is likely that the Cabinet unit will recommend to Reagan that the United States impose penalty duties on products made by the Japanese companies involved in the computer chip dispute.

Videocassette Recorders

This includes products made by Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and NEC Corp., and could include some popular consumer products, such as videocassette recorders, Administration sources said.

At issue is an agreement on computer chips reached last July between the United States and Japan in which the Japanese agreed to stop selling their chips at below-market prices, both in the United States and in other markets.

Japan also agreed to open its own markets more to U.S.-made computer components.

In return, the United States agreed to suspend proposed tariffs on Japanese semiconductors that the U.S. government had contended were being “dumped” in this country--a practice that the Administration said undercut U.S. sales and threatened this nation’s semiconductor industry.