ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990                   TAG: 9004120277
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TOKYO                                LENGTH: Short


JAPAN ACCUSED OF UNFAIR LOG TRADE

The president of the National Forest Products Association, a U.S. trade group, accused Japan on Wednesday of "stonewalling" in negotiations aimed at averting U.S. retaliation against Japan for allegedly unfair trade practices involving forest products.

"Real progress in these negotiations could increase American sales to Japan by $2 billion a year," Barry M. Cullen said. He said last year's sales to the Japanese, mostly logs, amounted to $2.8 billion.

The forestry talks opened on the heels of the settlement of disputes over supercomputers and satellites, and U.S. officials had hoped they would wipe the slate clean, at least for the moment, of unfair trade complaints involving threats of retaliation against Japan.

If no agreement is reached by June 16, President Bush is empowered to impose retaliatory sanctions against Japan. - Los Angeles Times



 by CNB