Japan and the United States wrapped up two days of deregulation talks Friday without progress in such key areas as access charges for telephone networks and airport landing fees in Japan.
U.S. officials expressed strong disappointment and one hinted that Washington may bring up access charges with the World Trade Organization.
In the high-level meeting, the U.S. voiced concerns over Japan's plan to allow NTT East Corp. and NTT West Corp. to raise charges to other carriers for access to their phone lines.
"We strongly urged Japan to reconsider its regulators' proposal to raise wire line interconnection rates," Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jon Huntsman said at a news conference after the meeting.