The Economy: A Costly Trade Victory over Japan

AS he boarded the Spirit of '76 after sharing tea and sympathy with Emperor Hirohito in Alaska last month, President Nixon gave U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo Armin Meyer a laconic description of a large problem. When it comes to trouble between the U.S. and Japan, said the President, "The code word is 'textiles.' "

The code word was still the same last week when U.S. Ambassador-at-Large David Kennedy and Kakuei Tanaka, head of Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), met in Tokyo to initial an agreement severely restricting Japanese textile sales to...

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