The United States on Tuesday urged Japan to rectify relations between domestic flat-glass makers and distributors in order to help U.S. and foreign competitors penetrate the "oligopolistic market," a U.S. government official said in Tokyo.
After two days of talks to review the 1995 bilateral flat-glass agreement, the U.S. official said although some improvements were made in regards to items such as insulating glass and certain joint projects, the overall situation falls short of expectations.
The talks, the fifth of their kind, were attended by officials of the U.S. Trade Representative and the departments of justice, commerce and state. On the Japanese side, representatives attended from the Fair Trade Commission and the trade, foreign affairs and construction ministries.