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Japan sees no big shift with Kantor

TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Monday predicted Washington would stay tough on trade as Mickey Kantor assumes the commerce secretary mantle and his deputy holds the fort as acting trade chief.

U.S. President Bill Clinton on Friday appointed Kantor to succeed the late Ron Brown as commerce secretary, naming Kantor's deputy Charlene Barshefsky as acting U.S. trade representative.

The surprise move came just days before Kantor was set to accompany Clinton on his visit to Tokyo for a summit being touted as a chance to cement security ties and celebrate progress on the trade front.

Clinton's three-day state visit begins on Tuesday.

US trade experts said Kantor's appointment to the Commerce Department sent a strong signal to America's economic rivals that Clinton was not backing away from support of the agency as a promoter of American exports. But some wondered if the shift would leave a void at the U.S. Trade Representative's office, where Kantor led efforts to pry open foreign markets.

Brown died earlier this month in a plane crash while on a trip to promote U.S. business in Bosnia.

However, Japanese officials said they expected no big change in Washington's trade stance towards Tokyo as a result of the change at the top.

Asked about Barshefsky's appointment, Hashimoto told reporters: "In effect there will be no change. Kantor will continue to look out for both (the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative's Office). That's a tough counterpart."

Kantor has long loomed large on the U.S.-Japan trade horizon, dominating talks held under a broad 1993 pact aimed at boosting U.S. sales and cutting Tokyo's trade surplus.

Last year he faced off with Hashimoto, then trade minister, in a bitter feud over access to Japan's markets for cars and car parts. In June, the two forged a last-minute deal that averted U.S. trade sanctions.

The tenor of trade ties has altered since then, with economic spats taking a back seat as Washington strives to put frayed U.S.-Japan security ties on a firmer footing in the post-Cold War era and ease the frustrations of opponents to U.S. military bases on the southern Japan island of Okinawa.

Clinton has proclaimed his trade strategy towards Tokyo a great success, pointing to a big drop in Japan's trade surplus and a sharp rise in U.S. car exports to Japan.

"The summit is going to be a trade celebration," said one U.S. business executive in Tokyo.

Still, Barshefsky -- herself known as a tough trade negotiator -- will have her work cut out in talks with Tokyo on several thorny disputes.

The two sides are at loggerheads over implementation of a 1994 insurance pact, a U.S. demand to roll over a pact on microchip trade that expires in July, and charges by Eastman Kodak of unfair treatment in Japan's photo film market.-Reuter