Japan Agency Offers Loans to U.S. Firms : Trade: The goal is to lessen the deficit by increasing exports to the Asian nation.

“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Robert A. Mosbacher has been getting a lot of laughs with that line during speeches designed to encourage American companies to be more export-oriented.

The audiences receiving Hiroyuki Kokado, a U.S. representative of the Japan Development Bank, are just as skeptical when he explains to American businessmen that he’s here on behalf of a Japanese government--often accused of maintaining stifling trade barriers--that wants to “help” boost U.S. exports.

Nonetheless, the two governments are stepping up their efforts to encourage more U.S. exports to Japan and have begun limited, informal cooperative efforts.

Kokado last month launched the Los Angeles operations of the JDB, the first Japanese government office established solely to provide low-interest loans for American companies that want to do business in Japan. The 40-year-old agency is best known for its role in financing Japan’s industrial development.

The JDB is prepared to make long-term loans at interest rates ranging from 6.1% to 6.9% and has set aside about $600 million to help finance foreign corporate involvement in the Japanese economy, Kokado said.

The Los Angeles operation services California and 18 other states in the West and Midwest. JDB’s operations in New York and Washington--offices that issue development bonds and conduct economic research--will now also handle the loan applications from the rest of the nation.

“We would like to do business on a more level playing field,” said Kokado, referring to longstanding American complaints about inequities in U.S.-Japan trade. “The Japanese market is enormous, and everyone should have access.”

The JDB lending program is one response to U.S. government pressure for the Japanese to bring down its trade surplus with the United States by easing barriers to U.S. exports. If Japan does not take action to further open its markets, some in Congress will attempt to restrict the flow of Japanese imports, Mosbacher said during an interview.

While urging the Japanese government to help pave the way for more American imports, the Bush Administration is trying to persuade more American companies to pursue export markets. As chairman of the recently formed Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, Mosbacher has been trying to coordinate the export support programs of 18 U.S. government agencies.

The Commerce Department, which recently sponsored an exports promotion conference in Los Angeles, is also planning new seminars designed to help U.S. firms capture markets in Asia and other parts of the world. He and other officials who participated in the 30-city conference tour touted the recently developed National Trade Data Bank, a guide to foreign markets available at Commerce Department offices nationwide.

To achieve a better trade balance with the United States and other trading partners, the JDB will seek from the U.S. Commerce Department advice and loan applicant recommendations, Kokado said.

Kokado has already spoken to U.S. business executives at a forum co-sponsored by the Commerce Department, and he expects to take part in other seminars sponsored by U.S. agencies.

For its part, the Commerce Department will seek the assistance of the JDB and other Japanese agencies when it takes U.S. business executives on trade missions to Japan next year.

“We’re working with (Japanese agencies) now,” Mosbacher said. “I think we’re making progress. . . . They have told us they want (cooperation), and we’ve seen a beginning. We’ll watch with great interest and anticipation to see if they actually do help U.S. businesses in a real way.”

The trade deficit with Japan is a major U.S. government concern. After the first nine months of 1991, the U.S. trade deficit was $46.5 billion--and Japan accounted for nearly $31 billion of that shortfall.

However, the overall trade trends are encouraging for export-oriented U.S. firms. The total trade deficit dropped from $109 billion in 1989 to about $101 billion in 1990. Buoyed by a weaker dollar that has made their products more competitive overseas, American companies are exporting more. Commerce Department economists expect the 1991 overall deficit to dip to about $65 billion.