Trade Ministry Gets an Earful of Complaints

Japan’s powerful trade ministry took the unprecedented step Wednesday of asking foreign companies how to increase imports, and it received a bushel of complaints about the system.

Trade officials said executives at 83 companies from 10 countries in North America and Europe met Trade and Industry Minister Hikaru Matsunaga and other officials for a high-level dialogue on import promotion.

It was the first in a series of meetings to be held every three months between foreign companies and the ministry, renowned as the driving force behind Japan’s export prowess.

The executives complained about the widespread existence of cartels in the Japanese economy, a byzantine distribution system that tends to hamper imports, onerous customs procedures and closed agricultural markets.

Plan to Boost Imports

“An affirmative and voluntary program by Japan is necessary to expand its imports,” said William Franklin, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

Japanese officials also quoted Franklin as warning that any increase in the $50-billion annual trade gap between Japan and the United States would be intolerable.

Matsunaga said Japan was about to embark on a major program to boost imports to help cut its trade surplus.

U.S. officials, here with Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher for a three-day visit, gave MITI high marks for its efforts but said it was not clear whether the ministry would succeed.

“There’s a new breeze blowing at MITI,” one U.S. official said. “It has a sense politically of what’s at stake,” he said. “But the jury is still out on the result.”