Compiled from Kyodo, staff reports
SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. and Japanese trade negotiators failed to reach an agreement over Washington's demands to extend an existing bilateral automotive trade pact during a two-day meeting that ended Tuesday, officials of both sides said.
As a result, the 1995 auto pact, aimed at removing Japanese trade barriers and expanding U.S. auto-product sales in Japan, will expire at the end of the year.
During the meeting, the U.S. side, led by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Wendy Cutler, demanded the auto pact be extended temporarily so that another five-year pact can be negotiated after the launch of the new U.S. administration in January.
But the Japanese side, headed by Hajime Furuta, deputy director general of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry's Machinery and Information Industries Bureau, rejected the U.S. demand.
Tokyo argued that globalization has dramatically changed the international auto industry and made it unnecessary for governments to meddle in industry activity.