Help Sell U.S. Cars in Japan, Prime Minister Urges Firms

TOKYO —  Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa issued a New Year’s plea for Japanese auto makers to ease trade tensions with the United States by helping Americans sell cars in Japan.

“I am asking industry leaders to take more seriously and compassionately the U.S. situation, epitomized by General Motors Corp.’s shutdowns,” Miyazawa said in a news conference televised today.

GM announced last month that it will eliminate 74,000 jobs and close 21 plants in North America over the next four years.

To emphasize to the Japanese the severity of the slump in the U.S. auto sector, Miyazawa added: “GM is like the Stars and Stripes for the American people.”

President Bush, accompanied by the chairmen of the three major U.S.-owned auto makers and 18 other business leaders, is due in Tokyo next Tuesday to discuss ways of narrowing Japan’s $41-billion trade surplus with the United States.

Autos and car parts account for three-fourths of that gap.

Miyazawa urged Japanese auto companies to help sell American cars in Japan and to spend a year or two to help U.S. companies develop auto parts that could be used by Japanese firms.

“To do our best is crucial, not only for the United States but also for world prosperity and peace,” Miyazawa said.

Major Japanese auto makers have said that they plan to nearly double purchases of U.S. auto parts by 1994 as part of a government-inspired effort to reduce the trade surplus. On Sunday, Japan’s leading economic newspaper said the auto makers plan additional increases in their purchases of U.S.-made parts.

There also are reports of a government plan to introduce subsidies to encourage Japanese to buy imported cars.

On another key issue, Miyazawa hinted that Japan eventually will ease its ban on rice imports, but he gave no indication that an announcement will be made during Bush’s visit.

“I think the Japanese people know Japan cannot continue to refuse to make any concessions” on the rice issue, he said.