by agreement, including the Super 301 cases on supercomputers, satellites and wood products and the amorphous metals case. This showed that the Administration's strategy was working, though of
Most of the remaining course there was always more work to do. barriers identified could best be addressed by a successful conclusion to the Uruguay Round; for that, said Bolten, renewal of fast-track authority was essential.
4.
Although
So this year's list is a little softer on Japan. there are still important sectoral or product-specific issues with Japan, particularly cars and car parts, semiconductors and construction, the debate about Japan seems to have moved on from the simple trade figures (which have of course improved since 1987/88). This year the pressures on the Hill are not so much about the trade deficit as about more complex concerns: US competitiveness and control of leading-edge technology; economic self-sufficiency particularly in defence-related industries; the implications for all that of Japanese takeovers of high-tech companies and so on. If you add Japanese lobbying in the US and barriers to foreign investment in Japan, all these have been part But it is of Congressional concerns about Japan for a long time. noticeable now that Japan-bashers complain more about Japan's alleged targetting of outward investment, a deliberate long-term strategy to buy control of sectors vital to US national defence as some see it, than about Japan's targetting of exports and export industries. Against the background of that debate the NTES still have some relevance Japanese barriers to US investment fuel the debate here about "fairness" - but trade sin-lists are less central now than they were, for example, when the Gephardt Amendment was being debated.
5.
The other main feature of this year's NTES is a sharp increase in the level of trade criticism directed at China. Although no item on this year's list is new, the tone is much sharper. USTR have approached the Chinese to propose intensive market access talks this year. As I have reported, USTR expect China to overtake Taiwan this year as the second-largest US bilateral trade deficit (Taiwan's was $11.2 billion in 1990, down on 1989). All this is bound to play into this year's debate on MFN for China. Also, given the language in the report on intellectual property complaints, it is distinctly possible that China might be named a "priority country" in this year's Special 301 decisions. That would set off formal Section 301 trade cases on a rapid timetable, the first such cases initiated under Special 301.
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Andrew Heath
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Achen
First Secretary (Commercial)
CC: List attached
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