The Open Door

After more than two years of knocking at the door of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), Japan was invited in. The invitation extended last week represented months of hard negotiation by the U.S., which had to prevail over the fears of several nations (notably Britain, France, Australia) that Japan's admission would loose a flood of cheap Japanese goods on the world. The U.S. argument is that Japan must have the trading opportunities of GATT to counter the economic blandishments of Moscow and Peking.

Before Japan can cross the threshold to full membership, two-thirds of GATT's 34 members must approve her entry. Seventeen nations, including the U.S., already have signed or are negotiating contracts with Japan under the GATT regulations.

The Japanese expect these contracts will lower her annual trade deficit by $40 million, mostly by more sales to the U.S. of Japanese cameras, binoculars, tuna, chinaware and toys.

The State Department calls Japan's invitation to GATT a "notable achievement for the U.S. foreign economic program," and the delighted Japanese officials in Geneva poured champagne. But Britain, beset by Japan's competition with her depressed Lancashire textile industry, announced that it would not extend GATT's most-favored-nation treatment to Japan. Also outraged : the American Cotton Manufacturers Institute, which called the new U.S. tariff agreement with Japan "a staggering blow" to U.S. textile makers.

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