Reagan and Takeshita Pledge to Resolve Tough Trade Issues : President Pleased by Japanese Offer on Building Market

President Reagan and Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita pledged today to resolve difficult trade issues, and Reagan said he was pleased by a Japanese proposal to open its construction market to U.S. industry.

“Prime Minister Takeshita and I found that our views on international questions coincide to a remarkable degree,” Reagan told reporters in the East Room of the White House after he and the Japanese leader discussed trade, global security and international financial affairs.

It was their first meeting since Takeshita took office in November, and U.S. officials had been hoping that Reagan would establish the same close relationship they said he had with former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.

“We discussed the vital issues of the day and established an excellent personal rapport,” Reagan said.

‘Particularly Difficult’

“I was pleased with his assurance that he intends to resolve a particularly difficult trade issue, the problem of access for the U.S. construction industry, in a satisfactory manner,” Reagan said.

U.S. officials said Tuesday that Takeshita had brought with him an agreement to begin negotiating ways in which U.S. companies could penetrate that market.

The talks will be aimed at changing bidding rules, notably the one that limits contracts only to companies with experience in the Japanese market.

“We hope to break that bind,” a U.S. official said. He acknowledged that the negotiations could take a long time, “but until now there has been total paralysis” on the issue.

Reagan said the two leaders were dedicated to improving world economic well-being and to continue cooperating on international financial adjustments.

‘Cordial and Candid’

Takeshita called the meeting “cordial and candid” and said, “I feel confident that we have strengthened further the foundation of relations between the two countries.”

The two leaders conferred in the Oval Office before holding another meeting over lunch. At a picture-taking ceremony before the opening of talks, they chatted about cameras and lenses.

As Reagan met with Takeshita, a coalition of 16 environmental groups filed suit in U.S. District Court to force the President to take sanctions against Japan’s fishing industry.

The groups, including the World Wildlife Fund, said Japanese fishermen were heading to Antarctic waters to kill hundreds of whales in defiance of an international moratorium on whaling. U.S. law requires sanctions against foreign fishing fleets judged by the President to be in violation of international rules.