US-JAPAN TRADE TENSIONS : U.S. Readies Sanctions on Japan : Trade: President Clinton is expected to announce that he is reviving a tariff-hike provision known as Super 301.

President Clinton, following through on his threat to retaliate against Japan’s trade policies, has decided to redeploy an old weapon that would allow the Administration to raise tariffs on Japanese goods sold in the United States, Administration and congressional sources said Tuesday.

Renewal of an empowering trade provision known as Super 301 has been considered one of the most likely first steps that the Administration would take, and White House officials began focusing on it as soon as the talks with Japan fell apart during a meeting between Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa last month.

Last week, in a step supported by the White House, key House and Senate members introduced legislation to renew Super 301. And this week, officials said, the Administration is aiming to issue an executive order carrying out such a step even before the legislation is given formal consideration by Congress.

The President’s decision, which follows the failure of U.S. trade negotiators to secure agreement by the Japanese to open their markets to American products, could be announced as early as Thursday, a congressional source said. But a senior Administration official said the action could be delayed until next week.

The Administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the “next logical” measure would be the publication of a list of Japanese exports on which tariffs could be raised or other sanctions could be applied. The taxes on imports would raise prices paid by U.S. consumers to discourage them from buying particular Japanese goods.

The Administration’s approach in the weeks following the failure of the talks on Feb. 11 has been built around a plan to increase pressure on Japan week by week.

During the week after the Hosokawa visit, the White House announced that it was prepared to impose several hundred million dollars worth of sanctions on Japanese products in retaliation for the obstacles encountered by Motorola in trying to sell its cellular telephone service in the Tokyo area. The deadline for disclosing specific plans in that case is the end of next week.

The Super 301 provision, reviled by Japan and opposed by the Reagan and Bush administrations, was part of U.S. trade law in 1989 and 1990. It was intended to identify nations that raised the greatest barriers to open trade.

Only Japan, Brazil and India were cited under the provision. In the case of Japan, the threat of sanctions produced agreements--not entirely successful--to open markets for certain forest products, supercomputers and satellites.

While the Clinton Administration has not cut off all contact with the Japanese, the frenetic talks that were intended to produce import breakthroughs in four areas of the Japanese economy--automobiles and auto parts, medical equipment, telecommunications and insurance--have come to a halt.

Treasury Secretary Lloyd M. Bentsen met Saturday in Germany with Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii. But, a Treasury official said, the Japanese official “had nothing to offer.”

Administration officials have said other steps under consideration include: slowing Japanese auto exports to the United States with extensive dockside safety inspections here, a harassment tool devised by Japan for use against U.S. automobiles arriving there; scaling back tax benefits given to Japanese auto manufacturers in the United States, and stepping up the use of U.S. laws prohibiting the “dumping” on U.S. markets of goods sold at less than the price paid in the home market.

Times staff writer Jim Mann contributed to this report.