P.M. BRIEFING : Japan Maintains Trade Shelters Despite Surpluses, GATT Says

Japan, despite running huge annual trade surpluses, still shelters a wide range of farm products and some industrial goods from foreign competition, the world commerce watchdog GATT said today.

While Tokyo has made tangible progress in opening its markets in recent years, a hard core of high protection remains, a review of Japanese trade policies by the secretariat of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade said.

Rice is the most deep-rooted example among farm products, with imports virtually banned to keep the country self-sufficient in this staple, the report said.

Tariff duties on sugar, beverages, liquor and dairy products were higher than the average rate of 12.1% for agricultural imports, and some dairy and fish products were subject to import quotas.

Although industrial tariffs were generally low, averaging 5.3% in 1989, many goods of particular export interest to developing countries faced duties as high as 60%.