Iacocca Warns Japan of U.S. Resentment : Says Nation’s Markets Must Open Wider to American Products

Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca today urged Japan to lay out the welcome mat for U.S. companies or risk escalating American wrath.

“This market must open up a lot wider to American goods if Japan ever hopes to solve its public relations problems in the States,” he told a press luncheon.

Iacocca said resentment and suspicion in the United States was being fueled by a growing dependence on Japanese money to finance the U.S. budget deficit and by Japanese purchases, sometimes conspicuous, of U.S. assets.

“Americans wonder if we’re losing control,” he said.

Iacocca, who met earlier in the day with Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, said America’s huge budget deficits were the root cause of the trade deficit with Japan.

Iacocca also said Japan has realigned its currency and made significant efforts to open its markets to foreign goods. But Japan must do more to correct America’s perception that Japan is unfair, he said.

“American companies must have exactly the same opportunities here that Japanese companies have enjoyed for years in the United States.

“That means that they must not only be allowed to compete here, but encouraged to do so. They must not just be tolerated; they must feel welcome.

“Fairness isn’t enough. Perception of fairness is all that matters,” Iacocca said.

Japan must also channel more of its foreign investment into manufacturing that creates jobs, rather than into property or other areas that contribute little to the economy, he said.