Michel Asks Delay of Trade Bill During Nakasone Visit
House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) urged Wednesday that the House postpone action on trade legislation until Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone concludes next week’s meetings in Washington with President Reagan.
“I do have a little concern about Prime Minister Nakasone being in town at the same time there could be all this bashing of the Japanese on the floor of the House,” Michel said. “I don’t think that would be in good taste.”
Michel said he would discuss his suggestion with House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who has designated the trade bill as one of his party’s top legislative priorities. The House Democratic leadership is tailoring the bill to single out Japan for particularly harsh treatment.
100% Tariffs
When Nakasone arrives in Washington on April 29, he is expected to ask Reagan to cancel the 100% tariffs he imposed last week on $300-million worth of Japanese computers, power tools and television sets. Reagan acted in retaliation for Japan’s alleged failure to live up to an agreement to control the world price of computer chips.
Former Japanese Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe, in Washington this week as a special envoy from Nakasone to persuade Reagan to void the new tariffs or lift them “as soon as possible,” was told by Reagan and top Administration officials that they will have to stay in place a month or more.
Administration officials told Abe that the Japanese would first have to live up to the agreement on computer chip prices and prevent Japanese chip manufacturers from dumping chips abroad at below cost.
At a news conference after two days of talks here, Abe said he would report to Nakasone that the Administration and Congress also want Japan to take its long-promised steps of stimulating its domestic economy. The purpose is to enable Japanese consumers to buy more and to reduce the reliance of Japanese manufacturers on foreign markets.
Computer Purchase Seen
Abe said he was confident that the government would adopt a supplementary $34-billion spending bill that would include the purchase of two U.S.-made Cray super-computers. That, he said, should begin to shrink the massive Japanese trade surplus with the United States, which he conceded has put Japanese-U.S. relations at a “very difficult juncture.”
Abe spent much of Wednesday in Congress, meeting separately with Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and numerous Republican senators, including Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas.
In the meetings, Abe said Japan realizes that it must increase its imports and is trying to do so. The senators, in reply, gave Abe a list of American products, ranging from super-computers and citrus fruit to telecommunications equipment and aircraft, that they said the Japanese should import as a demonstration of good faith.
Letter to Nakasone
Byrd gave Abe a letter to deliver to Nakasone warning that Reagan’s recent sanctions “have broad support in the Congress” and should not be removed “until the practices which led to their imposition have been demonstratively corrected.” The letter also warned that, unless the Japanese open their markets to a broad range of American products, “it is likely that additional efforts will be attempted to close off the American market to Japanese goods.”
The letter was also signed by Dole, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen, (D-Tex.) and Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.).
When the House debates the trade bill, the key argument will be over an amendment by Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), an announced presidential candidate. The amendment, vociferously backed by organized labor, would target for special retaliation Japan and other countries that carry large trade surpluses with the United States.
