Yeutter Praises Beef, Citrus Trade Pact : Predicts Increased Pressure on Europe to End Trade Barriers

WASHINGTON — The chief U.S. trade negotiator on Tuesday hailed a new accord with Japan on beef and citrus commerce as the most significant trade-opening pact ever concluded by the two countries.

U.S. Trade Representative Clayton K. Yeutter said the farm trade agreement, initialed Monday, symbolized Japan’s shift away from protectionism and toward an acceptance of greater global responsibilities.

He predicted that the bilateral pact would increase pressure on the European Community to bow to a U.S. request that members of the world trading body GATT scrap all agricultural subsidies and import barriers within 10 years.

Yeutter briefed reporters after returning from three days of negotiations in Tokyo.

The agreement he and Japanese Agriculture Minister Takashi Sato signed on Monday committed Japan to phasing out quotas on beef and oranges over three years and on orange juice over four years. The quotas will be raised during those periods.

Over the following three years, Japan will be able to protect its beef producers with higher tariffs.

Yeutter called the agreement “the largest breakthrough made in the Japanese market on anything.” U.S. beef and citrus producers will be able to sell at least $1 billion more of goods to Japan at the end of the phase-out periods, he said.

“This indicates, more than any bilateral negotiating result we’ve had thus far, that Japan is truly making efforts to open its markets,” he said.

The compromise accord went “much beyond traditional market-opening measures that we’ve seen in recent years,” he said without mentioning any other agreements.

U.S. industries have criticized the Reagan Administration for earlier settlement packages aimed at opening up Japan’s semiconductor, construction and other markets.

“My view is that the government of Japan has bitten the bullet in the import area and has decided it must begin to open up it markets in a truly meaningful way,” Yeutter said.

“We are experiencing a major alteration in Japanese thinking on the subject of trade policy and international economic policy generally.”

Washington has urged Tokyo to lift import barriers and boost domestic demand as ways of reducing its large trade surplus with the United States and the rest of the world.

Yeutter also predicted that the agreement with Japan would strengthen the U.S. Administration’s hand in global trade talks within the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade by putting pressure on the European Community.