Word: tradings
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Many of Prestowitz's observations are firsthand, since he has lived in or visited Japan many times over the past 24 years. He studied the Japanese language at Keio University in Tokyo and later helped manage a Swiss executive-search firm in Japan. Trading Places is especially full of fresh anecdotes and information gleaned from his industry contacts. He reports, for example, that IBM last year offered important technology to a leading competitor, Digital Equipment, rather than allow Digital to become more dependent on Japanese suppliers. The book also shows how President Reagan did not get too excited about trade...
Going beyond the historical material, the book offers suggestions on how the U.S. might improve its trade policy and meet the Japanese challenge. For one thing, says Prestowitz, Washington should stop wasting time making sweeping demands that Japan "open" its markets by liberalizing its customs procedures and changing its distribution system. Try as it may, the U.S. is not going to get Japan to change the way it does business. Instead, Prestowitz says, the U.S. should demand a specific share, say 20%, of the Japanese market for a product and let Tokyo worry about how to achieve that goal...
Prestowitz does not suggest that the U.S. copy Japan's symbiotic relationship between government and industry. But he argues that Washington must offer limited support and protection to crucial industries. "At issue is not pure free trade or total protectionism," he writes, since "we have never had and never will have either one; but rather what combination of free and managed trade we will have." He suggests, for example, that military research and development might be redirected toward commercial applications that could lead to increased exports. Some of Prestowitz's prescriptions are vague and put too much faith in Government...
...showdown pitted a lame-duck President looking to make a dramatic stand against a Congress determined to impose its will. As the Senate prepared to vote on the omnibus trade bill last week, President Reagan vowed to veto the package if the lawmakers did not remove a provision requiring that companies give workers 60 days' notice of plant closings. But the House had already passed the bill by a veto-proof 312 to 107, and the Senate was not about to back down. As the Senate's Democratic leaders struggled on Wednesday to line up votes and woo as many...
...promised veto could give the Democrats a potent issue in the presidential election campaign because the trade gap, which hit a record $171.2 billion last year, has become the most serious threat to economic prosperity. The monthly trade deficit has declined from a peak of $17.6 billion in October, but recent figures have been going in the wrong direction. A report released last month showing that the deficit jumped from $12.4 billion in January to $13.8 billion in February sent the financial markets into a brief panic. Continued deterioration of the trade balance could lead to a further drop...