U.S., Japan To Resume Automobile Talks

American and Japanese negotiators will meet next week in Tokyo for a new round of talks aimed at opening Japan’s auto and auto parts markets, but a U.S. official stressed he did not expect any major breakthroughs.

Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Garten, who is leading the U.S. negotiating team, said he would not participate in the discussions Feb. 15-17.

He said they would involve lower level officials dealing mainly with technical issues.

Garten said the United States was still hopeful that the talks could be wrapped up with an agreement by March 31, but he cautioned reporters not to expect any major announcement as a result of next week’s session.

Autos and auto parts are considered priority sectors in the so-called framework talks aimed at opening Japan’s markets to American and other foreign goods as a way of lowering that country’s $60 billionplus trade surplus with America.

While the United States has reached market-opening agreements in other sectors such as financial services and insurance, both sides remain far apart in autos and auto parts, which account for twothirds of America’s trade deficit with Japan.