Thatcher Tells Japan to Cut Tariff Barriers : Despite Gains, She Says There Is ‘Long Way to Go’

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher started a visit to Japan on Tuesday by warning that Japan had “quite a long way to go” in lowering barriers to imports from the rest of the world.

Thatcher, who relishes the role of drumbeater for British industry while on overseas trips, took up the cause of firms exporting to Japan during a visit to a major Tokyo bank.

Inspecting the foreign exchange dealing room, which uses British high-technology systems, she declared: “This is the kind of export we wish to see more of. It is a very good example.”

Shown how to use a dealing station, Thatcher pressed a key and declared: “We just got through to London and bought sterling.”

$80-Billion Surplus

Asked about recent Japanese moves to make foreign goods, including Scotch whiskey, more available, she said: “There’s quite a long way to go.

“The Japanese government have taken down some tariff barriers. It’s other kinds of barriers that are more difficult to get rid of.”

British officials said the type of barrier she was referring to included Japan’s refusal to grant seats on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to two British companies.

Japan’s total trade surplus last year was about $80 billion. Britain’s trade imbalance with Japan in 1988 was nearly $8 billion, and Thatcher has said she wants to see British goods as freely available in this country as Japanese videos and cameras are in Britain.

Thatcher will set out in detail her views on Japan’s trade policies in a speech to economic organizations in Tokyo today.

Environment on Agenda

Before then, she will have sampled Japanese technology with a ride on a high-speed “bullet” train--she takes pains to avoid traveling on trains in Britain--and a tour of a computer microchip plant.

She will also hold talks with Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and discuss environmental issues with him during a televised broadcast.

Speaking before she left London, Thatcher told British television viewers that Kaifu would be the fourth Japanese premier with whom she had discussed trade barriers.

Environment was the first item on her agenda Tuesday when she visited Tokyo University to listen to three eminent scientists outline current threats to life on Earth.

It will also be the main theme of her second speech in Tokyo, an address Friday to the biennial meeting of the International Democrat Union, which groups centrist and right wing political parties from 27 countries.