This is too good to not pass on. >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32) >The Globe and Mail Thursday, August 3, 2000 > >WTO's next challenge? Unfair use of sushi > > By Jim Stanford > > This just in: A dispute-settlement panel of the World Trade >Organization has ruled that Japan's traffic laws constitute a barrier to >trade and must be changed. > The judgment is considered a major victory for North American and >European auto producers, who argued before the WTO that Japan's >requirement that vehicles drive on the left side of the road established an >unfair barrier to imports of cars and trucks. > As one auto-industry lobbyist explained, "The Japanese government >literally forces its citizens to drive on the wrong side of the road. It's >the >major reason why they don't buy our left-hand-drive vehicles." > The WTO panel is similar to those that forced Canada to abolish the >auto pact, its pharmaceutical patent laws, its domestic magazine policy, >an aerospace technology program, and several agricultural marketing >boards. > The Japanese government must now enter into negotiations with >other countries to determine a timetable for reforming its traffic laws. >Sales of imported vehicles in Japan are expected to enjoy an immediate >boost as a result of the WTO decision. Large North American sport-utility >vehicles, such as the Dodge Durango and the tank-like General Motors >Hummer, are likely to experience the greatest increases in market >penetration thanks to their enhanced ability to withstand head-on >collisions. > International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew hailed the WTO's >decision as a victory for free trade. "Sure, there will be short-run >adjustment costs," he admitted, referring to the temporary increase in >head-on crashes. "But, in the long run, the Japanese will start to focus >their skills and resources in those industries where they are more >efficient." > Emboldened by the WTO decision, foreign automakers plan to >launch other complaints against Japanese trade practices. Sources >within the industry hint that the next challenge may target the unfair use >of the Japanese language. "Japanese customers can hardly make sense >of North American owner's manuals," said one Detroit-based auto >analyst. "They're much less likely to buy a vehicle when they can't figure >out how to make it work." > It's widely expected that Japan would resist any WTO demands to >abolish Japanese by claiming a cultural exemption to normal trade rules. >But a WTO official scoffed. "There's even less genuine cultural value to >a Japanese-language owner's manual than there is in the Canadian >edition of Reader's Digest." > China's trade ministry, meanwhile, expressed pleasure at the WTO >decision, suggesting that it enhances the likelihood that Beijing will soon >be admitted to the world trading club. "Sure, our country is still nominally >run by Communists," said one official. "But we drive on the right side of >the road. This clearly indicates our readiness to accept the discipline of >world market forces." > The implications of the WTO's ruling on traffic laws may extend to >other industries. An association representing U.S. beef growers is >already planning a trade challenge against the Japanese sushi industry. >"Japanese consumers are indoctrinated to eat raw fish from the time >they are toddlers," one beef lobbyist said. "No wonder they won't buy our >meat. That's completely unacceptable." > The beef challenge may be backed by powerful support from the >pharmaceutical industry, which has long complained of a lack of >Japanese demand for U.S.-made cholesterol-reduction drugs. > The latest WTO decision represents another expansion in the scope >and breadth of the trade body's dispute-settlement system. What was >initially intended as a means of arbitrating relatively narrow and arcane >questions of trade law has evolved into an authority with the mandate to >challenge any law, policy or practice found to inhibit the pre-eminent goal >of expanded world trade. > The worldwide economic and cultural harmonization thus being >encouraged by the dispute-settlement mechanism is a normal side-effect >of globalization, said a top U.S. trade official assigned to the WTO. >"Basically, it won't stop until foreigners think like Americans, act like >Americans and shop like Americans." > > >When not reporting on WTO decisions from Geneva, Jim Stanford is an >economist with the Canadian Auto Workers union.
