          
          
          
                        FOREIGN TRADE BARRIERS
          
          Over the past few years, the Government of Japan has 
          removed most formal barriers to the import of goods and 
          services.  Import licenses, which are still technically 
          required for all goods, are granted on a pro forma basis 
          with limited exceptions (fish, leather goods, and some 
          agricultural products). Japan's average tariff rate is one 
          of the world's lowest, and Japan has offered to reduce its 
          industrial tariffs by one-third in the Uruguay Round market 
          access negotiations.  If successful, the Uruguay Round will 
          further reduce trade barriers in a number of areas such as 
          agriculture, where an end to the ban on rice imports is 
          sought; manufactured goods, where the United States has 
          proposed the mutual elimination of tariffs for major 
          industrial sectors; and the services sector.
          
          In one of the most intensive periods of U.S.-Japan trade 
          negotiations ever, U.S. and Japanese negotiators in 
          concluded agreements to improve sales opportunities for 
          foreign supercomputer manufacturers in Japan's public 
          sector supercomputer market, remove restrictions for 
          purchases of foreign commercial satellites, resolve tariff 
          and standards issues regarding wood products, and enhance 
          opportunities for U.S. and foreign semiconductor 
          manufacturers to sell their products in Japan.  In 
          addition, the Government of Japan agreed to liberalize the 
          market for telecommunication products and services, 
          strengthen copyright protection for American music 
          recordings, and resolve a dispute involving amorphous 
          metals.  Also, the list of construction projects covered by 
          the Major Projects Agreement (MPA) was expanded in July 
          1991.  The revised MPA improves the procurement procedures 
          and has established a new complaints mechanism.
          
          Current obstacles to selling into the Japanese market do 
          not fit into conventional trade barrier categories.  
          Instead of tariffs and official discrimination against 
          imports, American exporters face a number of factors which 
          raise costs and inhibit access.  These include the tangle 
          of government red tape, the high cost of land, an outdated 
          and fragmented distribution system, collusion among 
          Japanese competitors, and insular attitudes by both 
          government and private business executives.  As described 
          previously, through the SII, the Japanese Government has 
          committed itself to a number of steps in the areas of 
          distribution, exclusionary business practices, and land use 
          which should help cut the cost of new market entry for U.S. 
          exporters.
          
          
