Bush to Press Kaifu on Trade Openings : Summit: American officials say that faltering U.S.-Japan talks need a political push from the top.

The White House reaffirmed Tuesday that President Bush will ask Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu at their meeting in Palm Springs this weekend to commit his government to substantial new market-opening moves before U.S.-Japan trade tensions get “out of hand.”

In a briefing for reporters, a senior Administration official said that faltering trade talks between the two countries “are going to require an injection of political judgment”--diplomatic language meaning a political boost from Kaifu and other top leaders.

“This is not a negotiating session,” the official said, cautioning that the two are not expected to hammer out any detailed trade accords.

Nevertheless, to underscore the urgency of the situation, Bush will take along an array of Cabinet officers, including Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady, Trade Representative Carla A. Hills and Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher.

In turn, Kaifu is bringing his foreign minister, Taro Nakayama.

Kaifu and Bush have scheduled a full round of private and ministerial-level sessions for the meeting, which Bush demanded last Friday after U.S. negotiators reported that Japan failed to deliver in talks on specific trade and economic issues.

The session between the two comes at a potentially volatile point in the political climate in the United States. Resentment over Japanese sluggishness in eliminating trade impediments has fueled anti-Japanese sentiment in Congress, raising the prospect of tough new legislation.

Over the next few weeks, the Administration is facing a spate of congressionally mandated deadlines that virtually require it to resolve outstanding trade disputes or else launch new unfair-trade-practices cases against Japan and--in some instances--impose retaliatory sanctions.

Although White House officials sought Tuesday to play down the rising tensions, Bush was reported to have been disappointed and plainly exasperated over the reports that the Japanese appeared to be stalling. U.S. officials were particularly angered because, at Tokyo’s request, they had been holding their fire on trade issues in recent weeks to avoid hurting Kaifu’s party in the Feb. 18 parliamentary election. They even consented to postpone a mid-January session until after the balloting.

As it turned out, however, although Kaifu’s Liberal Democrats won a substantial majority, Japan offered only modest proposals at the post-election bargaining, dismissing most of the U.S. demands as unrealistic.

In the high-level economic talks, known formally as the Strategic Impediments Initiative, the United States is seeking to alter Japan’s closed-door product-distribution system, end bid-rigging and other collusive practices and overhaul the country’s pricing practices.

At the same time, Tokyo has called on Washington to spur more saving and investment and reduce the federal budget deficit--prescriptions that U.S. officials agree are a key to reducing the nation’s trade deficit--and to improve America’s education system.

Under the 1988 Omnibus Trade Act, the Administration must:

- Decide by April 30 whether to impose retaliatory sanctions against Japan if Tokyo fails to resolve disputes involving satellites, supercomputers and forest products.

- Launch a new series of unfair-trade-practices proceedings by that date on additional trade disputes it has not been able to resolve--a move likely to include some involving Japan.

- Issue a report on March 31 listing the trade barriers maintained by all the United States’ current trading partners, including Japan--a compendium that is almost certain to help intensify anti-Japanese sentiment in Congress.