Japan agrees to cut car exports

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 8

Japan agrees to cut car exports

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Japan and the United States agreed yesterday to curb Japanese car exports to the United States and Government sources in Tokyo said the plan called for a ceiling of 1.68 million cars for 12 months from April 1 this year. The agreement, fiercely opposed by the Japanese car industry which last year captured 20 per cent of the American market, was announced by the International Trade and Industry Minister (Mr Rokusuke Tanaka) after two days of talks with the chief American trade negotiator, William Brock. The sources said the agreement would mean a three-year curb. After this year the limit would be adjusted depending on the sales performance of American producers, Mr Tanaka gave no details of the agreement, saying officials from the two coun-. tries still had to work out the final details. The sources said there

were still differences on how the cars should be counted — Japan excludes some types of station waggons and vans from its shipment figures while the Americans count them as cars. The Japanese car industry has opposed cuts in exports saying they were unnecessary because the American domestic market was steadily recovering from a sales slump. In Detroit, headquarters of the American motor industry, a spokesman for’ the Ford Motor Company said any voluntary agreement to limit Japanese car imports would be welcome. “We have been waiting and hoping for a reasonable and meaningful agreement,” he said. Ford and Chrysler, the second and third biggest American car manufacturers, have been pushing the hardest for curbs on Japanese cars after running up losses of more than $3400 million between them last year.