U.S. MAY DROP TARIFFS IF JAPAN OPENS - YEUTTER
The U.S. Is willing to drop tariffs on
Japanese electronic imports if Japan shows it will abide by an
agreemement opening its markets to American goods, U.S. Trade
Representative Clayton Yeutter said in a TV interview.
    "But there has to be a clear indication that they are
willing to act," he said.
    Yeutter said difficulties in the Japanese economy caused by
the U.S. Tariffs and the yen's rise against the dollar are
problems "they have brought on themselves."
    The dollar fell to 40-year lows against the yen today.
    "Certainly the movement of the yen is causing some economic
turmoil in Japan," he said. "My only response is that we have
gone through about five years with the dollar going in just the
opposite direction. Although I can sympathise, it's occurred
for only a few weeks or months in Japan."
    The tarriffs, announced on Friday by President Reagan, will
affect about 300 million dlrs worth of products, only a tiny
fraction of Japan's total exports to the U.S.
    Even so, Reagan's decision "doesn't give us any joy. We
don't want to take retaliatory action here if we don't have to,"
Yeutter said.
    Yeutter said the meetings scheduled next month in
Washington between Reagan and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone
will include "some difficult items on the agenda."
    Japan has failed to implement two parts of a three-part
semiconductor agreement, Yeutter said.
    Japan has stopped dumping chips in the U.S. But it has
failed to open its domestic markets to U.S.-made chips and has
failed to end predatory pricing in Third World countries,
undercutting U.S. Products, he said.
 REUTER
