TOKYO : Trading Words

When U.S and Japanese trade officials meet today and Wednesday to review progress on removing the causes of Japan’s huge trade surpluses, they are unlikely to find much good news. Japan’s total trade surplus is expected to balloon to about $120 billion this year--at least 40% of it with the United States.

U.S. officials will argue that Japan has been too slow in implementing changes proposed under the so-called Structural Impediments Initiative, the joint effort begun in 1989 to tackle the trade problems. They will point in particular to the power of keiretsu , business groups with interlocking share-holdings that give preference to each other in business dealings.

Japan will counter that keiretsu promote business development. They also will say the United States has not fulfilled its side of the bargain by reducing the government budget deficit and promoting U.S. exports.