U.S. and Japan Swap Criticism of Policies as Trade Talks Open

The United States and Japan traded criticisms of each other’s economic policies and structural problems on Tuesday in the first round of talks aimed at averting a trade war between the two economic superpowers.

From the start of the two-day session at this seaside resort south of Tokyo, bureaucrats from both sides argued heatedly about the reason for their growing bilateral trade friction, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

“The U.S. side said that if Japan’s trade surplus with the United States did not stop growing, it would reach a critical stage,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

At the heart of the talks is the so-called Super 301 clause of the U.S. Trade Act, which sets the stage for possible retaliation if Japan does not change its trading ways.

“Protectionist laws such as the 301 are making it more difficult for us to manage U.S.-Japan relations,” Deputy Vice Foreign Minister Michihiko Kunihiro said in his opening address.

Japan has refused to enter negotiations under threat of retaliation from the 301 clause on trade in supercomputers, satellites and wood products, three areas in which Washington has accused it under the U.S. trade law of maintaining barriers.