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- <text id=92TT1205>
- <title>
- June 01, 1992: Once More, With Backing
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- June 01, 1992 RIO:Coming Together to Save the Earth
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 24
- BUSINESS
- Once More, With Backing
- </hdr><body>
- <p>U.S. auto executives and their Japanese counterparts face off
- </p>
- <p> In the season of summer sequels, the rematch last week
- between U.S. and Japanese carmakers, self-described as the Big
- Eight of the world auto industry, drew very little attention.
- Meeting for four hours behind closed doors at a suburban Chicago
- hotel in a session that all the participants described as
- "subdued" and "serious," the dueling automen returned to the
- central issue of their tarnished visit to Tokyo last March: the
- $43 billion trade deficit between the two countries, nearly $30
- billion of which comes from Japanese auto products.
- </p>
- <p> This time, however, the chiefs of General Motors, Ford and
- Chrysler had more than just the powers of reason and persuasion
- on their side. Almost simultaneously, a congressional committee
- in Washington was considering new production limits on Japanese
- cars, including even those manufactured in the U.S. More
- stunning to the Japanese, the Commerce Department ruled for the
- first time that Toyota and Mazda were illegally "dumping"
- minivans in the U.S. market. The Big Three American executives
- brushed aside the timing of these public actions as "only
- coincidental."
- </p>
- <p> Industry analysts believe there is an even more compelling
- reason why the Japanese may finally open up their domestic
- markets to Detroit's products, which include an estimated $19
- billion in American-made parts for use in Japanese-built
- vehicles. The Tokyo stock-market crash and Japan's ongoing
- economic slump have brought increasing financial problems to
- Japan's carmakers in their home market. Nissan is even expected
- to report a loss this year. It is no time to alienate the U.S.
- as a customer. Many trade experts see good news emerging from
- this turmoil: a recognition on both sides of the realities of
- interdependence and the need for accommodation.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-