Statement on Trade With Japan

For more than 2 years, I have committed my administration to a bipartisan effort to open world markets. I have done this because where markets are open, Americans compete and win, and that means more high-paying U.S. jobs.

Over the past 20 months, my administration has made every effort through negotiations to remove obstacles to Japan's auto and auto parts market. Unfortunately, those negotiations have not produced meaningful results. Today we announced U.S. action in response to the continued discrimination against U.S. and foreign competitive autos and auto parts in Japan. I want to underscore my strong support for these actions.

At my direction, my administration will finalize a preliminary list of Japanese goods for retaliation. I also have directed Ambassador Kantor to send a pre-filing notification to the Director General of the WTO, indicating our intent to pursue a WTO case against Japan's unfair trading practices in the auto and auto parts sector.

Japan is a valued friend and ally. Our political and strategic relations are strong. Even in trade, we have worked together to promote successes in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and the Uruguay round of the GATT. It is in the context of this overall strong relationship that we must directly address our differences.