Prelude to Toronto Summit : Takeshita: Misconceptions Stir Trade Trouble

Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita complained Wednesday that many foreigners have “excessively strong preconceptions” of Japanese trade barriers, and he warned that trade disputes should not be allowed to trigger “mistaken nationalistic” emotions.

Takeshita met with foreign correspondents on the eve of his departure for Toronto, where he will take part in the annual economic meeting of the leaders of seven industrialized nations.

He was asked whether Japan is beginning to resent foreign criticism, even though the country has succeeded in carrying out a pledge made at earlier economic summit conferences to increase demand at home and draw in more imports.

He said he is pleased with Japan’s high growth and low inflation and unemployment, and added, “I think economic development led by domestic demand is now taking root.”

He went on to say that for a long time he has thought that foreigners have had “excessively strong preconceptions” that Japan has erected barriers against imports. Most of the problems brought up by foreigners, he said, can be solved through talks.

“We must be mutually careful not to allow individual disputes to stir up mistaken nationalistic (reactions),” he said.

Takeshita rebuffed criticism by U.S. Commerce Secretary C. William Verity Jr. in a speech last Friday in New York.

Verity charged that Japan has engaged in what he called a “3-G method of negotiation: Give Ground Grudgingly” and that Takeshita’s public commitment to “joint efforts as problems arise” sounded “depressingly like a variation of the 3-G technique.”

Takeshita said: “There is a difference in the national characteristics of our two countries.”

He added: “I think it best that both sides approach negotiations trying to understand each other’s position.”

Takeshita said he hopes that discussions on agricultural issues at the Toronto meeting will add impetus to the so-called Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

He said he intends to continue item-by-item bilateral negotiations on farm products, in an effort to solve disputes as they come up, until a comprehensive agricultural trade policy can be formulated in the GATT talks.

He refused to comment on U.S.-Japan negotiations on an opening of Japan’s market to beef and citrus fruit imports.

If working-level officials reach an understanding on the basic issues concerning beef and citrus this week, U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter is expected to visit Tokyo over the weekend to work out a final agreement.

Takeshita was said to be hoping for agreement before Monday, when he is to meet privately with President Reagan in Toronto. Takeshita noted that he has attended five economic summit meetings as finance minister, and he acknowledged that although he is by inclination “a man of few words,” he intends to speak out in Toronto, “especially on economic issues.”