Japan Yields Some Ground to EU on Auto Issues : Trade: European official warns Tokyo against striking exclusive deal with United States.
As the United States continues to threaten sanctions to win better foreign access to Japan’s automobile market, Tokyo yielded ground Tuesday on some auto trade issues in talks with the European Union.
“We have achieved a substantial breakthrough, but we have not achieved everything we want,” European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan said at a Tokyo news conference. “The negotiations will be continuing.”
Agreements include measures to ease the testing and certification of European vehicles imported to Japan and the introduction of an easier procedure for truck imports, Brittan said. Progress was also made on steps to simplify the rules for selling auto parts to Japan, he said.
While some of the new procedures are relevant only to European manufacturers, the rest of the steps will apply equally to all of Japan’s trading partners, Brittan said.
“These items collectively will help to facilitate the access of vehicles and parts to the Japanese market,” he said. “The discussions were held in a positive and friendly climate in an atmosphere of cooperation.”
The amiable tone of the EU-Japan talks contrasts sharply with that of the U.S.-Japan negotiations on the same issue. Both the European Union and Japan have been critical of the Clinton Administration’s threat to impose $5.9 billion in tariffs against 13 models of Japanese luxury cars unless the countries reach an accord by June 28.
A key sticking point in the U.S.-Japan talks is the insistence by Washington that Japanese auto makers agree to “voluntary” plans for increased purchases of foreign auto parts.
Japan’s refusal on this point was reiterated vehemently Tuesday by Atsushi Oi, director of the automobile division in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, who said, “This issue is not negotiable between the two governments.”
European officials have expressed concern that if Japanese auto makers were to issue parts purchase plans, the effect would be unfavorable to European manufacturers. European leaders, including Brittan, have also criticized the threatened U.S. sanctions as a violation of the rules of the recently established World Trade Organization.
But Brittan also warned Japan on Tuesday against striking any separate auto deal with the United States that excludes European companies.
“Don’t make a deal at our expense,” he said. “If you do that, you will find we in Europe say, ‘What is the use of a cooperative approach?’ ”
Both European and Japanese officials praised the quieter European approach toward resolving auto trade issues.
“This [set of concessions] represents a sizable chunk of what the European car industry said had to be changed in the Japanese car market,” said Peter Guilford, a spokesman for Brittan.
The European approach “may be less glamorous, but it’s a better one,” he said.
In Washington, the office of U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor had no immediate comment.
U.S. and Japanese officials are scheduled to hold talks in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday on the auto dispute, with further talks tentatively set for June 20-21 in Washington.
Meanwhile, Japan’s huge global trade surpluses continued to show signs of shrinkage. During April, a brisk pace of imports prompted partly by the strong yen helped reduce Japan’s current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, by more than $2.5 billion, or 18.5%, to $11.35 billion, the Finance Ministry reported. It was the fifth consecutive monthly decline in yen terms.
