YEUTTER SAYS JAPANESE CURB ALL BUT CERTAIN
  U.S. Trade Representative Clayton
  Yeutter said it was all but certain President Reagan would go
  ahead today and impose curbs on Japanese exports as planned.
      Asked in a television interview what the chance was for
  Reagan to cancel the scheduled 100 pct tariffs on Japanese
  electronic exports, he said "slim to none."
      Reagan announced on March 27 he would impose the tariffs to
  retaliate for Japan's failure to honor a 1986 agreement to end
  dumping computer semiconductors in world markets at less than
  cost and to open its home markets to U.S. products.
      Yeutter, on the NBC program "Today," said the United States
  did not want to terminate the agreement and would drop
  the tariffs once Japan began fulfilling the agreement.
      He said Japanese negotiators last week told U.S. officials
  they were honoring the pact, but Yeutter said it would take
  time to monitor any compliance.
      Asked how long that would take, he said "We want to see a
  pattern of compliance, so in a minimum I would say that would
  take a few weeks."
      Yeutter said he did not think there would be much consumer
  impact by the tariffs on 300 mln dlrs worth of Japanese goods
  because the items selected are also readily available from
  other countries and manufacturers.
      He said he did not think Japan would retaliate.
      "It seems to me it is not in the interests of either country
  to get in an escalating conflict.  The Japanese understand that
  full well," Yeutter said.
      He added Japan might challenge the tariffs in the General
  Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), but "that's more of a
  paper kind of exercise and I don't really expect to see any
  adverse impact on U.S. trade."
      Yeutter also said he did not see any way the semiconductor
  issue could be resolved before or during a Washington visit
  later this month by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
      He said he hoped the visit, which is to have trade as a
  major issue, would be productive but "I don't see any practical
  way to resolve this particular dispute before or during his
  visit."
  

