[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4458 Introduced in House (IH)]
103d CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4458
To promote United States industry and technology in competition with
Japan.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 19, 1994
Mr. Kolbe (for himself, Mr. Kopetski, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Livingston, Mr.
Hyde, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. McCrery, Mr.
Ehlers, Mr. Horn, and Mr. Portman) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote United States industry and technology in competition with
Japan.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Japan Export
Development and Technological Competitiveness Act of 1994''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that--
(1) the United States trade deficit with Japan of more than
$59,000,000,000 in 1993 and the worldwide Japanese current
account surplus of more than $131,000,000,000 are but two
measures of the unfair and chronically imbalanced state of
Japan's international economic relations;
(2) even more indicative of the closed nature of the
Japanese market to foreign products are statistics detailing
the marginal penetration of sales and investment in Japan by
foreign companies, particularly when compared to the
significant Japanese penetration of the United States market;
(3) although Japan is the second largest market for
manufactured goods in the industrialized world, in 1992,
according to the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and
Industry, only 1.2 percent of all sales and .9 percent of
assets in the Japanese economy were attributable to foreign
companies, with United States corporate affiliates accounting
for roughly .7 percent of total product sales and approximately
$89 per capita in inward direct investment;
(4) in contrast, in 1992 foreign corporate affiliates
accounted for almost 17 percent of all sales and 20 percent of
all assets in the United States economy, with an estimated 4.8
percent of total product sales and $594 per capita in
accumulated inward direct investment in the United States
coming from Japanese corporate affiliates, so that Japanese
corporate affiliates have a net sales and investment
penetration level in the United States that exceeds, by almost
7-fold on a per capita basis, that of United States corporate
affiliates in Japan;
(5) the majority of the blame for this highly unbalanced
situation rests with the Government of Japan, which has striven
through an intricate mixture of tariffs, controls, and domestic
regulations on the flow of goods and capital to, from, and
within Japan to keep foreign and Japanese entrepreneurs
desiring to do business in Japan from succeeding;
(6) today the market regulatory and interventionary
policies of the Japanese Government that intentionally or
unintentionally serve to keep foreign companies from doing
business in Japan must be removed to maintain the strength of
the United States-Japan relationship and to improve the growth
of the world economy;
(7) United States trade and trade promotion policies toward
Japan must also change to reflect post-Cold War priorities of
export expansion and technological competitiveness, the central
objective of which is to help United States companies become as
vital a part of the Japanese industrial system as Japanese
companies have become in the United States;
(8) one proven effective way in which the United States
Government can assist United States industry in overcoming
barriers to access in Japan, improve awareness of scientific
and technological developments in Japan, and facilitate greater
coordination between United States industry and the United
States Government in the making of trade and technology policy
is to promote the establishment of United States industrial and
service sector association representative offices in Japan;
(9) despite the very large potential for sales in Japan of
goods manufactured in the United States, because of the great
cost of establishing representative operations in Japan, only 3
nonagricultural United States industry associations have
created full-time offices in Japan (the auto parts,
electronics, and semiconductor industries) and all have relied
on the partial support of funding under the Market Development
Cooperator Program established under the Export Enhancement Act
of 1988; and
(10) the expedient expansion of the Market Development
Cooperator Program will have a significant impact on
facilitating greater United States exports to Japan and on
enhancing the awareness by United States industry of
competitive developments and opportunities in the Japanese
market.
TITLE I--MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR PROGRAM
SEC. 101. EXPANSION OF THE MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR PROGRAM IN
JAPAN.
(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to funds
otherwise available for such purpose, there are authorized to be
appropriated to the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 1995,
$3,000,000--
(1) to increase the number of United States manufacturing
and service sector industry associations in Japan participating
in the Market Development Cooperator Program established under
section 2303 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C.
4723); and
(2) to expand the trade promotion, technological
monitoring, and industry analysis activities undertaken before
the enactment of this Act by United States nonprofit
manufacturing and service trade associations in Japan.
(b) Reports on the Program.--Section 2303 of the Export Enhancement
Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4723) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(e) Reports to Congress.--The Secretary of Commerce shall report
annually to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations
of the Senate on the progress the Department of Commerce has made in
implementing the Market Development Cooperator Program and in
allocating funding to cooperator recipients in Japan.''.
TITLE II--UNITED STATES EXPORT DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER IN
JAPAN
SEC. 201. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) United States Trade Relations With Japan.--It is the sense of
the Congress that--
(1) in this post-Cold War era, promotion of equitable
economic relations with all trading partners and in particular
Japan must be given increased emphasis in the conduct of United
States foreign policy;
(2) working closely with industry, the United States
Government should endeavor to ensure that United States-owned
and operated companies are positioned adequately to take
advantage of opportunities for market entry and expansion in
Japan;
(3) technological developments in Japan should be followed
closely and analyzed for their ramifications on United States
industrial competitiveness and economic security;
(4) the United States Government should be in a better
position to support United States industry in disputes with the
Japanese Government and Japanese businesses and to publicize
the merits of United States products to the Japanese people;
and
(5) an Export Development and Technology Center established
in Tokyo would assist in accomplishing the goals set forth in
paragraphs (1) through (4) and could serve as a cornerstone of
a new United States constructive response to the Japanese
economic challenge.
(b) Purpose of Export Development and Technology Center.--It is
further the sense of the Congress that an Export Development and
Technology Center in Tokyo, Japan, should--
(1) embody a new United States Government-industry
partnership in expanding United States corporate penetration of
the Japanese market and in monitoring, analyzing, and
coordinating responses to Japanese scientific and technological
developments;
(2) provide a wide range of information to Japanese
consumers on the high costs of the Japanese standard of living
as compared to other industrialized nations, as well as on the
benefits to Japanese consumers of a more open, deregulated, and
transparent economy;
(3) correct misperceptions of United States products in the
Japanese media and publicize the negative impact of excessive
economic regulation by the Japanese Government on importers and
Japanese entrepreneurs;
(4) serve to create jobs in the United States and enhance
the competitiveness of the United States industrial base;
(5) help United States industries help themselves in the
provision of detailed knowledge and analysis of the Japanese
market and facilitate the promotion of their respective
concerns and interests to the Japanese Government, business
community, and public;
(6) improve the ability of the United States Government to
monitor Japanese scientific and technological developments
related to United States industrial competitiveness and
national security and centralize current efforts where
desirable;
(7) ensure that a common United States Government and
business community interest in increasing access for United
States made products to the Japanese market is visibly and
forthrightly promoted directly in Japan;
(8) contain offices for export-oriented United States
sectoral industry associations;
(9) contain a Government-operated science and technology
information and assessment facility designed to--
(A) centralize United States Government data
collection and analysis of sectoral, subsectoral, and
macro-trend developments in Japanese science and
technology; and
(B) ensure that science and technological
developments in Japan are monitored closely, formally
assessed for their implications to United States
industrial competitiveness, thoroughly catalogued, and
made available on-line in computerized form to United
States businesses; and
(10) provide office facilities for a portion of the foreign
office of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service in
Japan.
SEC. 202. FEASIBILITY STUDY ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNITED STATES
TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER.
(a) Study.--The Secretary of Commerce shall conduct a study of the
feasibility and viability of establishing a United States Government-
owned and operated Export Development and Technology Center in Tokyo,
Japan, as described in section 201(b).
(b) Report.--The Secretary shall, not later than 180 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, submit a report on the study
conducted under subsection (a) to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and to
the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee
on Appropriations of the Senate.
(c) Solicitation of Views.--In conducting the study under
subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce shall solicit the views of
the following individuals and groups regarding the desirability,
viability, and potential use of the proposed center:
(1) The Secretary of State, the Chairman of the National
Economic Council, the United States Trade Representative, the
Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, the
President of the National Science Foundation, and the head of
any other entity controlled or funded by the Government that
the Secretary of Commerce considers has relevant interests in
the establishment of an export development and technology
center in Japan.
(2) The Government of Japan.
(3) United States sectoral and multi-industry national
trade associations.
(4) Any other individuals, groups, or entities, public or
private, whose opinion the Secretary considers to be valuable
in conducting the study.
(d) Requirements for Report.--The report on the study shall include
an analysis of at least the following:
(1) The potential usefulness and desirability of the center
from the perspective of United States industry (as expressed to
the Secretary) and the United States Government.
(2) The possibility of expanding the Market Development
Cooperator Program of the Department of Commerce to extend
financial support to industry association participants in the
Center to help alleviate the costs of such participation.
(3) The possibility of requiring United States industry
participants in the center to engage in--
(A) promoting United States goods and services
among potential Japanese buyers; and
(B) monitoring, analyzing, and reporting on trade
and technological developments in Japanese industry,
and making such reports and the results of such
monitoring and analysis available to the United States
Government and the United States private sector.
(4) The possibility of requiring all industry advisory
staff at the center to possess significant recent expertise in
Japanese business and technology affairs.
(5) The possibility of requiring all industry
representative offices at the center to have at least one
senior staff member functionally fluent in Japanese language.
(6) The possibility of requiring all nonclerical personnel
to be United States citizens.
(7) The three best possible locations for the center
(ranked in order of desirability), and the possibility of
requiring that the primary building contractor of the center be
a United States-owned construction firm licensed to do business
in Japan.
(8) The possible management and oversight structure of the
center, including the possibility of having private sector
management and oversight with United States Government
participation.
(9) The total cost of the center, the possible cost to the
United States Government, and any cost-sharing or cost-saving
arrangements among private sector and Government participants.
(10) The concurrent establishment of a liaison facility in
Washington, DC, and the prospective requirements of such a
facility.
(11) The prospective architectural design of the center.
(12) The prospective design, construction, and operational
costs of the center.
(13) The possibility of the center containing--
(A) conference rooms and a small auditorium (80-100
persons) for conducting seminars and promotional
events; and
(B) a reference center and small library to provide
support services to building participants and
interested United States citizens.
(14) The security requirements of the center and possible
problems with compliance to United States Government laws,
rules, and regulations on security of government facilities.
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