P.M. BRIEFING : U.S. Gives Japan Till July 10 to Open Up Its Telecommunications Market
The United States has given Japan until July 10 to agree to open its telecommunications market to foreign competition or face possible trade retaliation, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said today.
U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills ruled April 28 that Japan’s telecommunications market was unfairly closed. Under the 1988 trade law, such an accusation could subject Japanese exports to the United States to tariffs of 100%.
The trade office targeted Japan’s telecommunications market after Motorola Inc. complained that it had been trying unsuccessfully to sell cellular telephones in Japan for a number of years.
Japan’s mobile telephone market is estimated at $100 million a year and its overall telecommunications market at $9 billion a year.
The United States had until Dec. 31 to act on Motorola’s complaint, but U.S. officials said the earlier date was set because the trade office wanted to clear away the issue so that it could take up other trade complaints leveled against Japan.
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