U.S. Rejects Japanese Compromise : Seeks Compliance With GATT Ruling on Farm Products

U.S. Special Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter, rejecting a compromise in a trade dispute with Japan, called Monday for full adoption of a GATT ruling that Japan should remove import quotas on 10 farm products.

Yeutter met for 45 minutes on the trade dispute with Japanese Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno before the 40th anniversary celebrations here of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The private talks centered on a three-member GATT dispute panel ruling in October that said Japan should remove import quotas on 10 dairy, fruit and processed meat products. Products included in the ruling range from evaporated milk and processed cheese to canned pineapples, catsup and tomato sauce.

Sources close to the Japanese delegation said Uno suggested to the U.S. delegation that Tokyo would remove the barriers in eight agricultural areas but not the other two.

Yeutter, asked by reporters if Washington could accept such a compromise, replied: “It is not possible under GATT rules to accept just a portion of the dispute panel report. We would consider it to be inappropriate--an unfortunate precedent.”

Yeutter added: “We have told the Japanese that were Japan to reject a GATT panel report on the 40th anniversary of this institution, that would not send a very favorable signal to the rest of the world.”

Yoshio Hatano, the Japanese trade ambassador who took part in the bilateral talks, declined to comment.

Yuji Ikeda, a senior official at Japan’s trade mission in Geneva, said, “Minister Uno explained the political difficulty surrounding this specific agricultural regime. . . . But the two sides didn’t reach any specific conclusion. Both sides are going back to their capitals to think about it.”

Nevertheless, the United States is expected to ask the 95 GATT member states to adopt the full panel report during the Dec. 1-4 session here. Japan could try to block adoption of the panel report, saying further bilateral talks were needed, delegates said.

GATT cannot force a member state to carry out its recommendations but pressure is usually strong for a country to comply.