After working behind the scenes for two years, the US computer industry was able to exploit President Bush’s well-publicised visit to Japan: the two countries have signed a trade pact that aims to increase the procurement of foreign computers by the Japanese government, quasi-government agencies and other public sector procurement bodies; US negotiators estimate the Japanese public market to be worth $6,000m and they say that the US currently has a mere O.4% of that; the accord does not set a precise market share, although officials claim that the US could retaliate if Japan fails to meet expectations; of course, it’s possible the Japanese do not import US goods because they neither need them nor want to; which suggests that the problem lies with US products rather than the desirable marketplace.
