22 April 1999: Japan has notified the US that it will not send government officials to testify at a US Congress hearing in early May on a bilateral dispute over flat-glass trade, an official at the Mi…
22 April 1999: Japan has notified the US that it will not send government officials to testify at a US Congress hearing in early May on a bilateral dispute over flat-glass trade, an official at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said recently. The US, in a letter addressed to International Trade and Industry Minister Kaoru Yosano, has asked Japan to send officials to a hearing on Japan“s alleged exclusionary practices in the flat-glass business. The hearing, originally scheduled for 13 April, was later rescheduled for 4 May, in an apparent attempt to coincide with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi“s official visit to the US from late April. Japan and the US struck an accord on flat-glass trade in 1995, but the share of foreign flat-glass products in the Japanese market has been slack, prompting allegations by Washington that Japan“s “keiretsu” corporate groupings hamper foreign access to the market. The issue is expected to be one of the topics of discussion at the upcoming US-Japan summit scheduled for 3 May.