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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260169
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

JAPAN TO IMPORT MORE U.S. WOOD

The United States and Japan reached agreement Wednesday to expand sales of American wood products as the Bush administration hinted that Japan's actions will keep it off a "hit list" of countries with the most offensive trade barriers.

The agreement wrapped up the final outstanding case cited by the Bush administration a year ago when it targeted Tokyo for priority market-opening negotiations.

U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills, announcing the successful conclusion of the talks, said the agreement should result in a $1 billion increase in American export sales while providing "lower-cost and higher-quality wood housing to Japanese consumers."

The administration a year ago targeted Japan for its barriers to sales of American wood products, satellites and supercomputers. All three issues have been settled in the past five weeks after months of talks with little progress.

The Bush administration faces a Monday deadline for deciding whether to target Japan in a second round of market-opening negotiations under a tough section of the 1988 trade law known as Super 301.

Various U.S. industry groups say the administration must cite Japan again to keep pressure on a country that accounts for nearly half of America's trade deficit.

But Hills strongly indicated that she opposed targeting Japan again.

In a review of 33 Japanese trade barriers, she said, she could find none that could best be resolved through use of the Super 301 process, which provides for retaliatory sanctions if the barriers aren't removed within a specified time.

by CNB