Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry...

Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry is planning new measures to increase imports from the United States, starting April 1.

Special agents seeking foreign products appropriate for Japanese markets will be stationed in major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, he said. The ministry also plans to send import missions to the United States twice a year to find goods for the Japanese market.

“These schemes are aimed at boosting manufactured goods imports from the U.S.,” the official said.

The ministry will draw up a plan to raise imports in cooperation with each U.S. state government. The plan will focus on increasing imports from smaller firms, since current imports from the United States are mainly from big companies. The ministry and 41 state governments with representative offices in Tokyo will discuss the scheme on Oct. 31, the official said.

The ministry also plans to set up committees for increasing imports in 30 cities in Japan in cooperation with local governments, chambers of commerce and distributors to ease the way for local retailers to purchase foreign products.

The committees will sponsor trade fairs several times a year and investigate what kind of imports local retailers and consumers want, the official said.