Clinton Vows Retaliation in Japan Dispute : Trade: President threatens reprisals unless Tokyo opens markets to U.S. cars and auto parts.
Insisting that “we’ve been hitting that brick wall long enough,” President Clinton used his weekly radio address Saturday to pledge swift retaliation against Japan if it keeps up its barriers against U.S. cars and auto parts.
“I am determined to open Japan’s auto market,” Clinton said. “That’s why I’ve asked my Administration to draw up a list of potential sanctions to impose against Japanese imports. We are prepared to act. And we will act soon if we must.”
Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said that Washington also plans to take the dispute to the new World Trade Organization in Geneva--and Japan said that if sanctions are imposed, it will do likewise.
But the President did not mention this in his Saturday address. The WTO, established by a 1993 treaty, is supposed to preside over the rules of international trade.
The President did not hint at the type of sanctions he expects his aides to propose. But prohibitive tariffs on luxury cars, minivans and perhaps sport utility vehicles are believed most likely. The sanctions could double what U.S. consumers pay for these Japanese autos.
This prospect provoked protests from owners of foreign dealerships in the United States. In a letter to Kantor, the president of the American International Automobile Dealers Assn. warned, “These sanctions will devastate our members and their employees and increase the cost of autos for hard-working American consumers.” Walter E. Huizenga said his association represents 10,000 businesses.
There is still time for a settlement. The process of imposing trade sanctions takes several weeks, and they probably would not be imposed before Clinton meets Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama in Halifax, Canada, next month at a summit of the world’s seven big industrialized nations. Some kind of an agreement in Halifax could halt the sanctions process.
In addition, according to Japan’s Kyodo News Service, Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will probably meet with Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown in Paris next week at a ministerial session of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Japanese officials said Brown requested the meeting with Hashimoto to discuss the dispute.
In his Saturday address, Clinton said that his Administration and the Japanese have concluded 14 agreements in the last 27 months “to open Japan to everything from our apples to our rice, our telecommunications equipment to our construction services.”
The President said that these agreements “are beginning to pay off in terms of jobs and profits here in America.” But, he went on, “when it comes to selling cars and auto parts to Japan, we are still hitting a brick wall.”
Opening Japan’s market as wide as the U.S. market, the President said, would be good for American companies and workers. But, he said, “it’s also good for Japanese consumers, who today pay much higher prices because of their trade barriers. Opening Japan’s markets is a win-win situation for everyone. But old habits and entrenched interests die hard.”
The President paid tribute to Japan as “a valued friend and partner” and noted that his Administration had been conferring with Japan over the auto dispute for 20 months. “But there’s a big difference between talk and results,” Clinton said.
