Common Mart Threatens to Slap Tariffs on Japanese Electronic Goods Exports

The European Economic Community will slap tariffs on Japanese electronic goods if Japan ships them to Europe to avoid punitive tariffs in the United States, foreign ministers of the 12-nation body warned today.

Separately, the ministers said the EEC, also known as the Common Market, will take “mirror image action” against the United States for any unilateral measure by Congress to curb European imports.

“It’s our duty to warn Congress before the damage is done,” Willy De Clercq, the Common Market foreign trade commissioner, said, without singling out any particular U.S. trade measure.

The foreign ministers asked the EEC Commission to continue monitoring imports of certain Japanese color TV sets, desk-top computers and power tools, which were subjected to 100% tariffs in the United States in a dispute over semiconductor trade.

‘Serious Threat’ Seen

If the EEC Commission finds the products ending up in Europe, the Common Market may match the U.S. action within two weeks, the ministers said in a statement.

De Clercq told reporters that any diversion of Japanese trade from the United States poses “a serious threat to Europe.”

The ministers also asked the EEC Commission to begin talks with Japan on increasing access to the Japanese market for Portuguese and Spanish goods such as tomato paste, olive oil, wine and fruit juices.

If its talks on increased exports of Portuguese and Spanish goods to Japan fail, the EEC Commission has proposed to raise tariffs on six popular Japanese imports: microwave ovens, loudspeakers, compact disk players, electronic organs, video recorder components and the new digital audiotape recorders.

‘The Right Signal’

The Common Market maintains that the entry of Spain and Portugal into the market in 1986 yielded Japan a $1.2-billion trade benefit in lower tariffs on a range of exports and that, under international trade rules, the market is entitled to compensation.

At the end of the two-day foreign ministers meeting, Leo Tindemans, Belgian foreign minister and the meeting’s chairman, said of the Common Market action, “This sends just the right signal to Japan.”

The market is concerned about its trade deficit with Japan, which De Clercq said is so far running 11% ahead of the same time in 1986.

“For us the situation is unsatisfactory and getting worse. It calls for some action,” he told reporters.