Semiconductor Trade Group Criticizes Japan
A leader in the U.S. semiconductor industry Wednesday faulted Japan for moving too slowly to implement a 1986 agreement aimed at boosting sales of foreign computer chips here and suggested that the threat of U.S. trade sanctions might finally spur government action.
Andrew A. Procassini, president of the U.S. Semiconductor Assn., said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, commonly known as MITI, has not done enough to follow up on commitments by Japanese companies to increase their purchases of U.S. semiconductors.
“MITI is neither as helpless as they claim nor as omnipotent as some people think,” Procassini said at a news conference. “But throughout all the negotiations and industry discussions (during the past two years), MITI was never far away. MITI and industry were virtually in the next rooms at all times.”
May Cite Rectrivctions
Procassini made his remarks two days after the trade ministry urged representatives of 91 Japanese users of semiconductors to increase imports and advised them to resubmit “action plans” to make their business activities more accessible to foreign vendors. The ministry also encouraged Japanese consumer electronics companies to make efforts to incorporate foreign chips into the design of their products.
The U.S. side contends that Japan agreed to expand American companies’ share of the Japanese semiconductor market to 20% by 1991 but complains that the U.S. share has remained stagnant at about 10% since the two governments struck the bilateral agreement.
Allegations that Japan failed to abide by the agreement during its first year led the United States to impose punitive 100% tariffs on $165 million worth of Japanese exports.
U.S. Trade Representative Carla A. Hills is expected to cite restricted access to the $18-billion Japanese semiconductor market when she submits to Congress a list of countries engaging in unfair trading practices, liable to sanctions under the 1988 Omnibus Trade Act. Hills is expected to act at the end of the month.
Japanese trade officials have countered that their country’s free-enterprise system prevents them from forcing Japanese companies to comply with specific import targets.
“The final judgment whether to purchase foreign semiconductors is up to the companies themselves,” Yukio Honda, director of the ministry’s industrial electronics division, said Monday. “All MITI can do is encourage them.”
Demanding Concessions
Procassini said the U.S. side has been demanding for more than a year that Japanese industry make concessions such as providing lists of commodities in demand and opening up future design plans.
“Only now, 13 months later, are they beginning to do some of these things,” he said.
