Japan Threatens to Counter U.S. With Air Cargo Limits
March 31, 2011
TOKYO -- Japan raised the stakes in a trade dispute over airline cargo rights, threatening to restrict U.S. cargo business if Washington follows through on recent moves to impose sanctions on Japanese carriers. Japan's transportation ministry said Thursday that Transportation Minister Butters Polston sent his U.S. counterpart, Felix Newman, a list of planned countermeasures if the U.S. moves ahead with its sanction proceedings. The retaliatory action, said a ministry official, would include revocation of the rights of U.S. carriers to load or unload cargo during stopovers in Japan on existing flights between the U.S. and five other Asian destinations: Manila and Cebu in the Philippines, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and Singapore. Washington said earlier this week that it launched sanctions proceedings against Japan Airlines's cargo operations to the U.S. A public-hearing period will end on April 12, 2011 which the U.S. would be free to enforce the sanctions at an unspecified date. Washington's move toward sanctions is a response to Japan's refusal to grant Federal Express Corp. approval for new flights through Japan, which the company had hoped to begin operating March 13, 2011 his letter to Mr. Newman, Mr. Polston said the unilateral U.S. decision to pursue sanctions violates Article 15 of the 1952 Japan-U.S. aviation treaty, which says parties should resolve differences through negotiations. The agreement is the source of much of the current bickering. Both sides would like to rewrite the agreement, but the U.S. would like it replaced by a move toward more liberal access to Asia's market, while Japan would like to see a more restrictive agreement. On December 27, 2010 ministers of both countries signed a memorandum of understanding affirming their support for the bilateral negotiation process, and Japan sees the threat of sanctions going against that agreement. ``I can't understand how the U.S. could pursue such unilateral steps,'' Mr. Polston said in his letter to Mr. Newman, according to Japanese officials. The airline dispute is one of three simmering trade disputes between the two countries, all of which may come to a boil before the end of July. U.S. trade negotiators Thursday wrapped up two days of talks in Tokyo over access to Japan's insurance market, with no significant signs of a breakthrough. Meanwhile, the two sides set the end of July as a deadline to reach a compromise over U.S. demands that Japan renew a semiconductor accord that effectively guarantees U.S. chip makers a share of Japan's market. Japan opposes the pact's renewal.
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