Tokyo and Washington failed Thursday to come to an agreement on renewing a 1995 bilateral arrangement over foreign access to Japan's flat-glass market, officials said.
The two-day meeting was held on Wednesday and Thursday between officials from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative at the request of Washington, which wants Japan to import more flat-glass products from abroad.
Tokyo rejected a U.S. proposal that Japan renew the 1995 bilateral arrangement, which is due to expire at the end of the year, and told the U.S. to put forward "substantial and meaningful" proposals if it wants the arrangement to be renewed, MITI officials said.
After the two sides signed the flat-glass agreement in 1995, making it easier for foreign manufacturers to enter the Japanese market, the foreign share of the flat-glass market increased to 14 percent in 1998 from 7.9 percent in 1994.
The U.S. share increased to 3.9 percent from 1.7 percent.
The foreign share of the market reached a high of 15.4 percent during the January-June period this year, with the U.S. share accounting for 4 percent of total domestic demand.
While the U.S. says close ties between Japanese manufacturers and glass-makers continue to keep American manufacturers from fully entering the market, Japanese officials attribute the outcome to lack of competitiveness and marketing efforts on the part of the U.S. companies.
The two sides will continue their dialogue before the current agreement expires.