Word: important
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...business executives were also impressed. Said Chairman Stephen Levy of Bolt Beranek and Newman, a communications-equipment firm in Cambridge, Mass: "Certainly you have to be encouraged by a Prime Minister who gets up before his people and urges them to buy American products." Nakasone's program to reduce import barriers was less encouraging. It was brimming with promises and restatements of earlier commitments but almost barren of specifics. Some of its provisions...
...Prime Minister's vague program may not be enough to calm the protectionist furor in Congress, where both the House and Senate have overwhelmingly passed resolutions calling on the President to retaliate against Japan unless it reduces import restrictions. Said Republican Senator John Danforth of Missouri: "The problem is not going to be solved by a single Nakasone speech or package of promises. The only thing that counts is results." Agreed Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat: "We essentially have here an unsecured promissory note, and if our negotiations with Japan continue as they have in the past...
Even if the Soviets decide to import thousands of machines, the Kremlin is not expected to permit a Western-style computer revolution. The government has not allowed ordinary Soviet citizens to own personal computers. Even if the machines became available, few people could afford one. The Agat costs at least $3,600, far more than the typical worker's annual salary...
...House, following the lead of the Senate the week before, voted 394 to 19 for a nonbinding resolution that called on President Reagan to take steps against Japan for failing to lower import barriers. Said Michigan Democrat John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee: "The time for tabletalk negotiations has ended. The President must tell our Japanese trading partner that this nation can no longer sit idly by while Japan's unfair and discriminatory trade practices build and expand Japanese industry at the expense of American firms and workers." In the Senate, the Finance Committee reported...
Beyond that, the Japanese point out, the U.S. is not entirely free of protectionist reflexes. Besides negotiating the "voluntary" restraint on cars, the Reagan Administration has imposed a 25% import duty on Japanese small trucks. As for the allegedly aggressive takeover of U.S. consumer markets, Yardeni admits succinctly, "Part of the problem is that the Japanese make awfully good products." Also, U.S. businessmen bring a few cultural barriers of their own to the bargaining, starting with their reluctance to become fluent in the language of their prospective clients. Jokes an official of the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo...