U.S. Unhappy About Japan’s Trade Charges : Dispute: America is accused of unfair practices, including pressure to limit car exports and bias against purchases of foreign goods.

The White House, business leaders and trade analysts lashed back at Japanese accusations Monday that the United States is the world’s leading unfair trader.

“People who live in glass houses should be careful about their stones,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said of a report by Japan’s Industrial Structure Council, an advisory panel to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

The report surveyed Japan’s major trading partners to detect unfair trade practices in 10 categories.

The United States was cited for nine kinds of unfair practices, including pressure on Japan to limit car exports voluntarily, bias against foreign goods in government purchasing and abuse of rules penalizing nations that “dump” goods below fair market price.

“I think that is like the pot calling the kettle black,” said Willard Workman, vice president for international issues at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Cathy Lydon, spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills, said the Japanese report is simply wrong.

“The U.S. market is the most open in the world, and no one has benefited more from this openness than Japan,” she said.

Fitzwater tempered his comments, saying cases of unfair trade could be made by both sides. He noted that the United States for years had pressed Japan to open markets that were closed to foreign goods.

Ford Motor Co. said Monday the Japanese charges reflect Tokyo’s concern that many nations will no longer tolerate Japan’s trade practices.

Ford said U.S. workers, politicians and government officials need only look at the size of Japan’s trade surplus to decide which country has conducted the fairest trade.

In Tokyo, an official on the panel said Japan could be cited for restricting imports on agricultural products and limiting access to such service industries as the law.

However, Japan’s government procurement of foreign goods stands at high levels, the trade ministry official said.

“The United States has a ‘Buy American’ amendment, but we don’t have such a thing as ‘Buy Japanese,’ ” he said. “The report does not mean we are going to take unilateral measures against unfair trade practices. We want to solve trade issues by discussing them based on the report.”

Other trade partners named in the Japanese report included the European Community, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. The panel said it will issue such a report annually.

The United States has long had a massive trade deficit with Japan, $40 billion to $50 billion annually. It is often up to two-thirds of the overall American trade shortfall.

About 75% of the trade gap is in cars.

U.S. negotiators have managed over the years to open some Japanese markets, including those for processed foods, tobacco, lumber and supercomputers.