Japanese Chip Dumping Over, Yeutter Thinks

The U.S. trade representative said today that Japan appears to have ended its dumping of computer chips on overseas markets. The comment was the strongest suggestion yet from a high Reagan Administration official that retaliatory tariffs against Japan may soon be lifted.

But Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter said that verifying Tokyo’s action will take some time and he did not expect any resolution of the dispute to be announced during Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone’s meetings with President Reagan this Thursday and Friday.

Yeutter, interviewed on the NBC-TV “Today” show, said he had detected a change in attitude during his meetings last week with high Japanese officials in Tokyo.

‘Just Matter of Time’

“It seemed to me apparent from my discussions . . . that correction has probably already taken place and it’s just going to be a matter of time until the compliance is fully demonstrated to us,” Yeutter said.

Indeed, he added that the Reagan Administration is prepared to lift the 100% duties imposed on a variety of Japanese televisions, computers and power hand tools, “just as soon as we have persuasive evidence that compliance has existed over a period of time.”

But he said that U.S. officials “can’t do this on the basis of a couple of days of data. . . . That’s why it would really be unfair to Prime Minister Nakasone and to President Reagan to expect this issue to be resolved during the forthcoming visit.”