Japan Rejects Plea on Beef, Citrus Quotas : U.S. ‘Clearly Headed Toward Retaliation,’ Trade Negotiator Says

The Reagan Administration said today that Japan has refused a U.S. plea to settle through mediation their dispute over imports of American beef and citrus fruits.

The refusal came hours after the U.S. trade representative threatened retaliation over the issue.

“I regret the Japanese today blocked our request for the formation of an independent . . . panel to review Japan’s beef and citrus quotas and other restrictive practices,” Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter said in a statement issued by his office.

Hours earlier, Yeutter had told National Public Radio, “If the intransigent attitude that prevails in Japan at the moment on beef and citrus continues, we are clearly heading toward retaliation by the United States, and somebody will pay the price.”

‘Someone Will Have to Pay’

“It may or may not be the Japanese agricultural producers, but someone will have to pay the price of retaliation,” he added.

The United States had urged GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, to convene a panel to declare the Japanese quotas illegal under international trading rules.

Yeutter said that the United States will continue to consult with Japan, but that if a solution is not found in the coming weeks it will renew its request for an independent panel at the next GATT meeting in early May.

Yeutter told NPR that he has information that Japanese industry is already reacting to the possibility that the United States might curb its imports of Japanese goods as a retaliatory measure.

“I just saw a cable today that indicates that a number of Japanese industrialists are now beginning to speak up on the issue,” he said.

Pact Expired in March

“They should be pounding the desk of Japanese government officials, saying, ‘Don’t let the agriculture folks have the controlling voice in this issue,’ ” Yeutter added.

The U.S.-Japanese agreement on citrus and beef imports expired last month, and no new accord has been reached. Under the 1984 agreement, Japan agreed to admit 141,000 tons of American beef that year, rising to 177,000 tons this year, and to a 1,100-ton annual increase over the 1984 quota on U.S. orange imports of 82,000 tons.

The quotas are being demanded by the politically powerful Japanese beef and citrus farmers.

U.S. officials argue that the Japanese would benefit greatly by reduced quotas, saying that beefsteak in Japan now costs four times the U.S. price and citrus costs at least double the American market price.