U.S. Secretary of Commerce MalcolmBaldrige said he hopes Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro
Nakasone will make specific proposals to ease U.S.-Japan trade
friction at a meeting with President Reagan this week.
    He also told reporters he hopes the U.S. Will soon be able
to lift sanctions imposed against Japan for alleged violations
of an accord on semiconductors.
    "We have been very specific about our trade problems," he
told a news conference during a stopover in Hong Kong. "I hope
(Nakasone) brings some specific answers to the trade problems."
    "We want to lift the sanctions as soon as possible," Baldrige
said.
    He said that once the U.S. Determines that Japan is selling
semiconductors at cost it will be able to lift the 300 mln U.S.
Dlrs of duties it imposed on Japanese electronics goods on
April 17.
    "We have not seen that yet," he said, adding that it would
take about one month to determine whether the alleged
violations of a bilateral semiconductor pact had been
discontinued.
    Baldrige did not say what specific solutions he wanted for
U.S.-Japan trade problems.
    But the New York Times today quoted administration sources
as saying that the U.S. May be able to lift trade sanctions
against Japan by the end of June.
    Japan would have to show that it had stopped underpricing
semiconductors and had widened access in Japan top U.S. Chip
producers.
    Baldrige also said that despite the current trade rift, the
U.S. And Japan have long had friendly ties that neither side
wants to change.
    "We have a very special relationship with Japan. Japan is a
friend and our ally," Baldrige said. "Neither one of us wants
that to change."
    He also repeated statements that he did not foresee a trade
war with Japan but that the U.S. Had no choice but to impose
the trade sanctions.
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