U.S., Japan gird for battle
DETROIT - The Clinton administration last week moved to slap hefty tariffs on Japanese luxury vehicles in retaliation for what it calls Japan's refusal to open its markets.
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U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said he will publish 'in the next several days' a list of Japanese products that will be hit with punitive tariffs if Tokyo does not further open its markets to U.S. cars and parts.
(Editor's note: Kantor proposed a 100 percent tariff on 13 Japanese luxury cars.)
The action would cap a decades-long dispute with Japan over the hugely unequal shares held by each country's automakers in the other's market. It follows the breakdown of talks aimed at increasing Japanese purchases of U.S. auto parts.
In those talks, the Japanese angrily rejected Washington's insistence that 'Japanese carmakers accept and announce firm targets for increasing purchases of U.S. parts.'
