New Japan Trade Minister Warns Against Threats
Japan’s new trade minister, Hikaru Matsunaga, said Thursday that Tokyo will not discuss any trade problems under the threat of U.S. retaliation.
Matsunaga, appointed head of the International Trade and Industry Ministry on Wednesday by Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, said at his first news conference as minister that Japan would deal positively with its structural trade problems in planned talks with the United States.
He said some structural problems cannot be solved overnight and that Japan wants the United States to understand this. These problems include Japan’s high savings rate and the special relationships among its companies, he said.
The Super 301 clause of the U.S. trade law gives Washington officials authority to act unilaterally in taking punitive economic actions against a nation if they decide its trade policies are unfair.
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