DETROIT AND THE MISSION TO JAPAN : Tokyo May Ease U.S. Car Rules : Trade: News reports say Japan intends to ease inspection standards on imported vehicles in an effort to further open its markets.
Japan will relax inspection standards for imported cars to boost the sale of U.S. vehicles, reports said Sunday, two days before President Bush was to arrive with demands for more open Japanese markets.
Kyodo News Service said the changes would meet about 80% of U.S. requests for easing standards for imported cars. It said they would be listed in an “action plan” to be released by Bush and Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa after talks this week.
Under the plan, Japan will accept the results of U.S. tests on imported cars’ brakes and international inspection of headrests, heat sensors, side lights and front blinkers, Kyodo said. Those items now must be retested in Japan on imported cars.
Bush’s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, told ABC television that he was not aware that Japan had made such promises.
“If the document is already written, if the fix is in, I haven’t seen it,” he said from Seoul, where Bush was visiting Sunday. “What we want is an open market for U.S. automobiles and for U.S. auto spare parts.”
Bush arrives Tuesday in Japan with 18 U.S. executives, including the chairmen of the Big Three auto makers, and is expected to pressure Japan to lower its trade barriers. He has said more sales overseas mean more jobs in America.
Autos and auto parts account for about three-quarters of Japan’s $41-billion surplus in trade with the United States last year.
American cars account for only 0.4% of the market in Japan, compared to the 30% share of the United States vehicle market captured by Japanese manufacturers.
On Saturday, a high-ranking trade official pressed Japan to buy more U.S. cars and auto parts.
Michael Farren, U.S. undersecretary for international trade, emphasized the issue of standards for imported cars in talks with Koji Watanabe, Japanese deputy vice foreign minister, the Foreign Ministry said.
A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, hinted that Japan might agree to take stricter measures against auto makers and dealers that discriminate against foreign cars.
In other developments:
* Toyota will increase its purchases of General Motors Corp. parts by up to four times within the next few years and start distributing GM cars here.
* Mazda Motor Co. will boost sales of cars made by Ford Motor Corp. from 1,500 last year to 4,000 this year, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily said.
* Honda Motor Co. will boost sales of Chrysler Corp.’s Jeep model, while Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is considering importing passenger cars that it will produce jointly with Chrysler, the Yomiuri said.
Japanese auto makers already have announced plans to nearly double purchases of U.S. auto parts.
Japan’s leading economic newspaper, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, also reported Sunday that during Bush’s visit, the two sides would agree to maintain the dollar’s recent downward trend against the Japanese yen.
A lower dollar makes American goods less expensive in Japan, and Japanese goods more expensive in the United States. The dollar ended 1991 trading at 125.25 yen, down 10.15 yen from a year earlier.
The reports could not be confirmed due to a weeklong New Year’s holiday.
