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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 13, 1995                   TAG: 9505170043
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. CORPORATIONS BACK TOUGH TRADE STANCE WITH JAPAN

\ The Clinton administration's tough stance in its trade battle with Japan is winning solid support from America's corporate leaders.

The Business Council, heads of 100 of the largest corporations in America, urged the administration to stick to its position and predicted Japan would compromise. The council is holding its semiannual conference in this colonial resort, a three-day meeting concluding today.

``We wish them the best of luck,'' Alex Trotman, head of Ford Motor Co., said of administration officials. ``They're doing the right thing by hanging tough.''

Ford and the other U.S. automakers have a particularly big stake in the outcome of the confrontation with Japan. U.S. officials say Japan has erected barriers that prevent U.S. manufacturers from making inroads in the Japanese car market.

The trade gap between Japan and the United States last year set a record of $66 billion, most of it laid to the deficit for autos and auto parts.

Business Council members said car makers are not alone in hoping U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor succeeds in the campaign to open Japan's market to American goods.

``All of us have the same problem, to some extent,'' said Robert Allen of AT&T Corp.

``Clearly this is the right move,'' said Richard Rosenberg, head of BankAmerica Corp., when asked if the administration was pursuing the proper course. ''Every member [of the Business Council's leadership] believes it.''

President Clinton authorized action Wednesday against Japan, including a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization in Geneva, and threatened punitive trade tariffs against billions of dollars of Japanese products. The tariff list is expected to target luxury cars particularly in what shapes up as the largest trade-sanctions case in U.S. history.

The Japanese say if they are threatened with tariffs, they will bring an unfair-trading complaint against the United States before the WTO, created recently to settle trade disputes between nations.

Trade specialists have said Japan would have a good chance of winning such a case on grounds the United States had no right to impose sanctions unilaterally without first pursuing a remedy before the WTO.

Business Council members said they expect the Japanese to relent at the 11th hour and resolve the dispute at the bargaining table.

``The WTO is not going to rule in any time frame that will be relevant,'' said Lawrence Bossidy of Allied Signal Inc., which makes auto parts and aerospace products. ``There is always some risk. But the prevailing view is that it will get worked out.''

``We think the Japanese government is in a mood to resolve it,'' added Edwin Artzt, chairman of Procter & Gamble Co.

``We at Pepsico support the sanctions,'' said D. Wayne Calloway, whose company makes beverages and snacks and runs restaurants. He said Pepsi can make soft drinks to sell to Tokyo consumers more cheaply in San Francisco than it can in Japan because of regulatory hurdles there.