The Clinton administration is keeping pressure on Japan to lower its huge trade surpluses or risk unspecified consequences.
Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, briefing reporters in advance of a Saturday meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii, said the administration was still studying a "myriad of options" to reduce America's $59.3 billion trade deficit with Japan.Bentsen said he and Fujii will explore ways to restart the stalled "framework" talks, which collapsed on Feb. 11 over U.S. demands that Japan agree to statistical benchmarks to measure progress in opening its markets in four key areas - autos and auto parts, medical products, telecommunications equipment and insurance.
The administration has threatened to use other means, including possible trade sanctions, against Japan if the framework talks don't produce success.
In Congress, House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced legislation Thursday that would have import targets set unilaterally by the U.S. Commerce Department and then subject Japan to sanctions if the goals were not met.
Bentsen refused to comment on the Gephardt-Rockefeller bill, but he said the administration was reviewing various proposals.
"We have a whole myriad of options we can exercise," Bentsen said, adding that the administration had made no decisions yet.
The treasury secretary branded as a "total fabrication" Japanese media reports that the United States and Japan had agreed to stabilize the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar at around 110 Japanese yen, about 5 yen higher than it is currently.
After the collapse of the U.S.-Japanese trade talks, the dollar has weakened against the yen on speculation the Clinton administration would try to talk down the value of the dollar as a way of lowering the trade deficit by making Japanese exports more expensive to American consumers.
U.S. officials have denied that this is administration policy, but they also have not made any efforts to stem the dollar's slide.