P.M. BRIEFING : U.S.-Japan Trade Talks Resume

WASHINGTON —  High-level trade talks between Japan and the United States resumed today as Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu dispatched two personal emissaries to try to work out solutions to the huge $49-billion trade imbalance between the two nations.

Kaifu called President Bush to renew his pledge to seek solutions to the trade disputes that have split the two nations.

Bush, asked by reporters in Atlanta if the trade talks with Japan were in trouble, said:

“I had a very fruitful conversation with the prime minister of Japan this morning and we will see. But I must say I am encouraged by recent progress, but we’ll wait and see. More to follow soon on that.”

Presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters in Atlanta that the two emissaries, former Japanese Ambassador Nobuo Matsunaga and Deputy Foreign Minister Hisashi Owada, would meet with Secretary of State James A. Baker III and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. Fitzwater said the emissaries would meet with Bush on Wednesday.