Japan Lobby Critic Choate Out at TRW

Pat Choate, a leading critic of Americans who leave top government jobs to lobby for Japanese firms, has been forced to resign from TRW Inc. because of controversy over an upcoming book on the subject, friends said Thursday.

Choate, a vocal trade commentator and policy analyst based in Washington, was told by TRW that his continued employment was untenable given the publication in October of “Agents of Influence,” according to friends. The book is expected to examine how 200 former U.S. officials have taken jobs as lobbyists for foreign interests, primarily Japanese, and include details on payments made and secret agreements to hide the true source of funds.

Choate has estimated that Japanese government agencies, corporations and foundations spent $150 million in 1988 and $250 million in 1989 on lobbying and other public relations efforts in the United States, far more than any other foreign nation.

His supporters expressed concern Thursday that Choate’s separation from TRW would have a chilling effect on other critics of foreign trade practices or lobbying.

“If Pat was forced out, it means it’s going to be very difficult for people who work for American companies to develop an independent viewpoint on U.S.-Japan trade,” said John B. Judis, senior editor of a Chicago-based political journal, “In These Times.” Judis wrote a widely publicized piece on Japanese lobbying, “Yen for Power,” for the New Republic magazine earlier this year.

TRW, a maker of auto and defense-related products with headquarters in Cleveland, reportedly does $400 million in business a year with Japanese firms. TRW Space & Defense Sector is based in Redondo Beach.

Makoto Kuroda, a retired official with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, has acknowledged he raised the issue of Choate and his book with TRW President Joseph P. Gorman last year, but denied asking for his dismissal.

One Japanese government official said it was “inconceivable” that pressure from Japan had led to Choate’s departure. But he said many Japanese were deeply concerned that the book would worsen U.S.-Japan relations and that publication of it immediately prior to mid-term elections would give candidates cause to use Japan as a scapegoat in their campaigns.

TRW spokesman Mike Johnson denied the firm had fired or forced Choate out of his job, and said his departure was “in no way” related to pressure from Japanese interests.

“His leaving was a mutual agreement between Pat and TRW so that he could go off and write and lecture full time,” Johnson said. TRW will retain him as a consultant.

Choate declined comment. Friends, however, described him as stunned over the severance because the firm had known he was working on the book for the past 2 1/2 years.

U.S. Rep. Mel Levine (D-Los Angeles), who has worked closely with Choate on issues of U.S. industrial competitiveness, called his departure from TRW “perplexing” and “regrettable” and said Congress should look into it if there were evidence of foreign influence.

“If he lost his job due to foreign influence . . . it illustrates what his book is all about,” said Roger Hickey, vice president for communications of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank in Washington that favors more direct government efforts to help industry compete with Japan.

Choate, a Texas native who picked cotton on his father’s farm, joined TRW in 1981 as a vice president for policy analysis. A ubiquitous presence on talk shows and task forces, in hearings and news reports, Choate is regarded as a brilliant economist with a flair for transforming dense issues such as infrastructure into hot national topics. In the mid-1980s, he drew national attention to the issue of America’s industrial competitiveness, with Ronald Reagan making it the center of his 1987 State of the Union Message.

Interest in Choate’s book is so high that its publisher, Alfred Knopf, has increased the first printing run from 20,000 copies to 50,000 copies. The Economic Policy Institute plans to hold a seminar on the book in Washington in October. In addition, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, is planning a hearing on foreign lobbying efforts this fall.