Reagan Lifts $51 Million in Japan Tariffs : Reagan Eases Japan Tariffs as Summit Opens

President Reagan, in a gesture of harmony at the opening of the annual seven-nation economic summit, today announced the partial lifting of U.S. sanctions on Japanese electronics goods.

Reagan said he will remove 17%, or $51 million, of the $300 million in penalty tariffs he imposed April 17 on Japanese computers, television sets and power tools.

Reagan said in a statement that the reduction of the duties is in response to some improvements made by Japan in complying with a 1986 semiconductor pricing agreement.

“As we open this economic summit, one of our primary concerns must be the removal of barriers that seek to maintain trade imbalances and lead to protectionism,” Reagan said in announcing the move.

Microchip Price Raised

Reagan said his order to ease the sanctions was based on improvement by Japan on just one type of memory microchip, the so-called D-RAM chip, a relatively unsophisticated chip used in many modern computers and electronic devices.

The President said Japan had raised the prices of these chips in overseas markets from 59% of their market value when the tariffs were imposed to about 89%.

Reagan said that his action “is strictly proportional to progress to date.”

Japan made clear in its initial response that it considered the U.S. action insufficient because it failed to recognize Japan’s own efforts to correct the situation.

Hajime Tamura, minister of international trade and industry, said Japan had called for a total end to the sanctions because “there is no longer any ground for maintaining the measures, even if the U.S. logic were adopted as the basis of judgment.”

Reagan’s announcement on the sanctions followed a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

While agreeing to lift some of the sanctions, Reagan said in his statement that “unfortunately, the initial review of the data relating to the semiconductors is not sufficient for me to remove the full range of sanctions which were imposed.”

The tariffs were imposed to retaliate against alleged Japanese violations of a 1986 agreement on computer chip pricing. The United States contended that Japan had refused to stop selling computer chips in foreign markets at prices far below their true value, or to give U.S. chip makers more access to Japanese markets.

Concern in Congress

Key congressional leaders of both parties had urged Reagan to leave the sanctions in place. “I am aware of congressional concern,” Reagan’s statement said.

The good-will gesture came as Allied leaders gathered amid extraordinary security for the start of summit talks already dominated by danger in the Persian Gulf.

Trumpets blared in the courtyard of the 12th-Century Ducal Palace in St. Mark’s Square during formal summit welcoming ceremonies for the leaders. The anthem of each country was played as the leaders arrived separately.

As the senior official at the summit, Reagan came last, as dictated by protocol rules. Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher missed the opening ceremony and her foreign minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, substituted for her.

Reagan began his day with meetings with Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, Nakasone and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

At the beginning of his meeting with Kohl, German reporters asked Reagan why the Bonn government should join in protecting Gulf shipping.

After a long, thoughtful pause, Reagan replied, “because the climate is so nice.”