US Threat of Trade War Behind Standoff with Japan Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the October 30, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- U.S. THREAT OF TRADE WAR BEHIND STANDOFF WITH JAPAN By Deirdre Griswold What made a seemingly minor dispute between U.S. shipping companies and Japan suddenly blow up into a confrontation with possible military consequences? The escalation started on Oct. 16. The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission voted to ban Japanese ships from U.S. ports. Going even further, it called on the Coast Guard to stop Japanese container ships from entering or leaving the ports. This raised the specter of an embargo for the first time since 1941, when the U.S. Navy stopped oil shipments to Japan. That move is still viewed in Japan as the precipitating factor leading to World War II. The FMC's decision reportedly took the Clinton administration by surprise. However, since September the agency has been levying $100,000 fines on some Japanese ships each time they use U.S. ports. The FMC says it is retaliating for restrictions on U.S. cargo in Japanese ports. Washington wants the Japanese government to break the power of the stevedores, whose union is part of an independent association that sets the rules and costs involved in handling cargo. So this move was a direct attack on Japanese workers. To its great credit, the union of U.S. dock workers on the West Coast announced it would defy the FMC. "Honoring our longstanding fraternal relations with Japanese dockworker unions, we object to this anti-worker action and pledge to work any Japanese ships calling on a West Coast port," said International Longshore and Warehouse Union President Brian McWilliams. Taken at face value, the question of port rules and regulations is small potatoes. It's the sort of issue that is under negotiation every day in international commerce. U.S.-Japan ship trade amounts to around $180 billion a year, so all kinds of questions must be routinely discussed and resolved. But threatening to have the Coast Guard stop Japanese ships--there's nothing ordinary or mundane about that. That is an act of extreme belligerence. It is invoking armed might in what appears to be a simple commercial dispute. The incident is a reminder of how serious the question of trade becomes when the capitalist market is saturated with goods. It is also a reminder that behind every trade war lies the threat of a shooting war. How far the U.S. government will push this issue is hard to say. For several days it appeared that Coast Guard sailors would be brandishing their guns at Japanese container ships. But something happened to convince Washington to sit down with Japan and negotiate. On Oct. 17, the day after the FMC vote, the U.S. stock market took a nose dive. The French Press Agency reported that the FMC's move had "shocked U.S. trade circles and sent stock prices plunging, as investors feared retaliation by Japan and ultimately a full-fledged trade war." The British news agency Reuters reported that "worries in Washington that an all-out trade battle would rock financial markets mitigate against too militant a U.S. trade stance." So the FMC seemed to pull back on its threat. For this time, at least, market instability acted as a deterrent to military action. But three days later, when the commission met again, it announced only that it had taken no vote and was postponing a decision on whether to lift the ban on Japanese ships. A brief report from Reuters said Commission Chair Harold Creel was "awaiting further word from the Transportation Department on the status of the broader negotiations that center on greater access to Japanese ports for American ships." U.S. imperialism's appetite for hegemony in Asia can only grow as competition for markets increases among the capitalist giants. This incident is an ominous warning of how quickly a seemingly petty and innocuous issue can lead to confrontation. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://workers.org) ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-10.23.97-10:39:46-24892