Kantor stresses talks with Japan on auto trade<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (Kyodo): The United States will continue to seek an
\naccord on auto trade with Japan through negotiations rather than
\npress Tokyo with retaliatory threats, U.S. Trade Representative
\nMickey Kantor said Friday.<\/p>\n
''We have said before that we will not wait forever, which we
\nwon't. But the preferred route is through negotiations and I
\nwould be pleased if that was the result of the discussion,''
\nKantor said in an interview with Kyodo News Service.<\/p>\n
Highlighting his message throughout the interview of using
\nnegotiations to resolve the impasse with Japan, Kantor brushed
\noff reports that the U.S. is ready to slap a list of items
\nsubject to Section 301 trade sanctions as early as May.<\/p>\n
''I think it is unfortunate if people are engaging in threats
\nat this point. We are not doing that,'' Kantor stressed.<\/p>\n
''We are merely saying that we are committed to opening this
\n(Japanese auto) market and we hope to do it by negotiations if
\npossible,'' he said.<\/p>\n
Kantor also voiced his strong wish to hold a bilateral meeting
\nwith Japanese Minister of Trade and Indusrty Ryutaro Hashimoto
\nwho has expressed reluctance to do so during a ''quad'' four-way
\ntrade ministers' conference in Whistler, near Vancouver, Canada
\nin early May.<\/p>\n
If Hashimoto will agree to such a meeting, ''I would be
\npleased to meet with him,'' Kantor said.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Hashimoto told reporters that he will decide
\nwhether to meet one-on-one with Kantor after expert-level talks
\nare held next week in Tokyo. ==More<\/p>\n
Kantor said, ''If for whatever reason he (Hashimoto) thinks it
\nnot in Japan's interest to carry on these discussion, of course
\nthat is his decision and not mine.''<\/p>\n
But he stressed, ''I am prepared to meet with him,
\nobviously,'' indicating his expectations for progress in the
\nTokyo working-level meeting next week.<\/p>\n
Kantor apparently took the softer approach to diffuse disputes
\nbetween vice ministers earlier this week that was feared by
\ncurrency dealers as a sign of a looming trade war. The dollar
\nbriefly plunged below 80 yen in Tokyo trading Wednesday for the
\nfirst time in postwar history on speculation that the U.S. will
\nuse the dollar-yen rate to threaten Japan.<\/p>\n
Kantor refused direct comments on the impact of the trade
\ntalks on currency exchange rates, but he voiced concern about
\nboth economies.<\/p>\n
''Failure to recognize this problem will have an adverse
\neffect on both the United States and Japan,'' he said.<\/p>\n
With the subcabinet consultation failing to produce major
\nprogress, U.S. negotiators said Washington is prepared to resort
\nto ''other options'' to resolve the talks. Japanese officials
\ncountered by stressing their readiness to bring the case to the
\nnew global watchdog World Trade Organization (WTO) to serve as a
\n''referee'' if the U.S. takes retaliatory actions.<\/p>\n
The U.S. initiated a yearlong Section 301 probe under its
\ntrade laws into Japan's replacement parts market last October,
\nwith a deadline for possible sanctions set for Sept. 30. U.S.
\nofficials have recently said the U.S. is preparing to move up the
\ndeadline.<\/p>\n
Kantor said, ''We haven't had a trade war in the world in 60
\nyears and I don't expect we are going to have one now.''<\/p>\n
On the controversial U.S. demand for renewed voluntary plans
\nby Japanese automakers to buy foreign parts, Kantor indicated
\nthat he will continue to seek Japanese commitment on the issue,
\nbut declined to comment on whether Washington is ready to propose
\nanything new to Japanese negotiators.<\/p>\n
Calling Japan's insistence in rejecting such voluntary plans
\nas ''contradictory,'' Kantor said the Japanese government says on
\nthe one hand ''with Europe they have export restraints. With the
\nUnited States they don't want to be involved in market
\ncontrols.''<\/p>\n
''There will be no total agreement without all three being
\naddressed,'' Kantor said, pointing to the need for Japan to open
\nits finished auto, original equipment auto parts and secondary
\nmarkets.<\/p>\n
The auto and auto parts areas are the only sectors unsolved
\namong the three priority areas under the bilateral framework
\nnegotiations.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the U.S. is thinking of a new formula for
\nrenewing voluntary plans, Kantor said, ''I am not going to
\nnegotiate the specifics in public. I think that would not be
\nfair to my Japanese colleagues nor would it be helpful to
\nnegotiations.''<\/p>",
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