[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        OPENING JAPANESE MARKETS

  (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, it was 10 years ago that Marcy Kaptur and I 
met with Japanese officials about opening their markets to United 
States auto parts. Imports then had less than 1 percent of Japan's 
protected market. Today, despite incessant American efforts, that 
figure is only 2.4 percent.
  The Japanese sell their automotive products on every United States 
Main Street, but they make it difficult, often impossible, to sell 
United States products even on Japanese side streets.
  The negotiations that begin today in Vancouver are make it or break 
it for opening the Japanese market. That is why there is broad support 
on a bipartisan basis here in Congress and in the U.S. business 
community, from the Business Roundtable and NAM to semiconductors and 
motion pictures.
  Japan's protected markets undermine the world trading system. 
Resolution of this issue with Japan will affect this Nation's economic 
future, the confidence of Americans in their Nation's trade policy.

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