Japan aired its concerns Thursday to the United States that the recent series of antidumping claims by the U.S. steel industry against steel imports has substantially paralyzed Japanese exports of most major steel products, government officials said.

Hisamitsu Arai, vice minister for international affairs, told David Aaron, U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade, during his visit to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry Thursday morning, that the recent "overuse" of antidumping suits by the U.S. steel industry is "abnormal," even though Japanese steel exports to the U.S. have declined to levels logged in 1997 before the Asian economic crisis.

While maintaining that the act of taking antidumping measures itself serves to practically halt exports, Arai also questioned whether the recent move by the U.S. Department of Commerce to shorten its investigation period for dumping claims deprives the accused parties of enough time to defend themselves.

Aaron replied that antidumping actions are in accordance with World Trade Organization rules and that U.S. dumping investigations are being conducted in a fair manner.

Aaron was quoted as telling Arai that President Bill Clinton is against protectionism that would collide with WTO rules, as demonstrated by his administration's recent campaign to quash efforts by the Senate to introduce a steel quota bill.

While recognizing that Japanese steel exports to the U.S. have declined drastically this year, Aaron said more than 11,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. and two manufacturers went bankrupt last year because of a flood of cheap imports from Japan, Russia and other foreign countries.

Washington will continue to keep a close watch on the level of Japanese steel exports to the U.S., Aaron was quoted as telling Arai.

Aaron also said Washington will announce its steel policy next week, with bilateral or multilateral negotiations with Japan and other relevant countries in mind, according to MITI officials.

Meanwhile, both sides agreed to extend their 1990 bilateral trade cooperation promotion program to boost U.S. exports to Japan, particularly in environment-related areas, and to build up campaigns in the U.S. under the Japan Initiative to encourage American business activities in Japan.