Mosbacher Denies White House Rift on Japanese Trade Policy

Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher on Wednesday vehemently denied the existence of a rift within the Bush Administration over trade policy toward Japan.

Mosbacher, in remarks to the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, was responding to reports that two camps had emerged within the Administration over how to respond to trade barriers imposed by the Japanese.

According to published reports, Mosbacher’s and U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills’ hard-line stance was at odds with a more diplomatic approach favored by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady and White House economic adviser Michael J. Boskin.

But, said Mosbacher: “There is absolutely, positively and completely no rift within the Administration on trade business in any shape or form.”

Asked how tough the United States should be toward Japan, Mosbacher said confrontation is not the best policy. “We have been with Japan great allies and great friends,” Mosbacher said. “So getting tough is not what I have in mind.”