15 April 1999: Japanese and US officials from both government and the private sector will meet by June to discuss US access to Japan“s flat-glass market, Japanese Vice Trade Minister Osamu Watanabe s…
15 April 1999: Japanese and US officials from both government and the private sector will meet by June to discuss US access to Japan“s flat-glass market, Japanese Vice Trade Minister Osamu Watanabe said. The decision was reached at a recent meeting in the US between Japanese trade officials and their US counterparts, including Deputy US Trade Representative Richard Fisher, Watanabe said. “There was an agreement to hold a meeting comprising officials from both governments and the private sector,” Watanabe said. Watanabe, who did not attend the meeting, said he had been told that the seven-hour meeting was constructive but that the Japanese side was told that some US companies have complained that Japan“s flat-glass market was hard to enter. US officials also expressed concern over Japanese manufacturers taking equity stakes in distribution companies, as this could further hurt efforts by foreign firms to get into the Japanese market, he said. Watanabe said Japan“s Fair Trade Commission was now looking into this issue and the government would respect its findings. He said MITI was still examining Japanese firms“ capacity, and it had yet to consider steps to encourage firms to cut excess capacity.