Word: tradings
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Nakasone's efforts at liberalization, though, have had little effect on U.S.-Japanese trade figures. Indeed, most economists estimate that if all protectionist barriers in Japan were removed at a stroke, Japanese imports would increase by only $8 billion to $15 billion...
...factor that has had the greatest single impact on Japanese trade is the skyrocketing value of the yen, which has risen 60% against the U.S. dollar since September 1985. The steep rise in the yen has helped push the Japanese economy into a trough. The change in currency value was expected to help correct the trade imbalance by making U.S. exports to Japan cheaper and Japanese exports to the U.S. more expensive. Finally, after long and frustrating delays, there are signs that such changes are slowly coming about. The Japanese claim their U.S. imports last year rose by almost...
There are additional reasons why the current semiconductor confrontation has more powerful significance than previous trade squabbles. One is the importance of the microchips -- finely etched electronic devices that process thousands of bits of information per second -- to the burgeoning world of high tech. Semiconductors are now used in virtually every advanced technology, including the Cray supercomputers that are a key component of the Reagan Administration's Strategic Defense Initiative. Says C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Washington-based Institute for International Economics: "Practically everyone in the U.S. agrees that semiconductors is a critical industry and that it would...
Much about the semiconductor pact is indeed questionable in economic terms. Among other things, it raises the costs of American manufacturers who use the devices to build computers and other products, thus making them more vulnerable to foreign competition. But to U.S. trade officials, the evidence of alleged Japanese dumping and Japan's refusal to open domestic semiconductor markets were the last straw. For one thing, the ink on the semiconductor agreement was barely dry before, in Washington's view, it was being ignored. For another, that Japanese behavior seemed to U.S. officials to be part of a familiar Japanese...
...Japanese are still friendly toward him. The answer may be not many. The Prime Minister will know better after nationwide local elections on April 12, when he and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are now expected to take a drubbing. The main reason for that is not the U.S. trade dispute but Nakasone's announced decision to impose an unpopular 5% national sales tax. Nakasone has not made a single appearance on behalf of local candidates -- because no invitations were extended to him. Jokes one Tokyo academic: "If President Reagan is a lame duck, our Prime Minister is a dying...