U.S. Eyes Three Nations For Unfair-Trading List;Japan, India and Brazil May Be Cited
President Bush's top economic advisers are homing in on three countries, including Japan, to be named as "unfair" traders, but they are likely to omit South Korea and the European Community from the list of nations facing possible sanctions, administration sources said yesterday.</br></br>But the sources emphasized that the Cabinet-level Economic Policy Council still is sharply divided over how to handle the trade law's requirement that the nations be singled out. A list of options is still being prepared for presentation to Bush next week.</br></br>U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills is expected to announce by next Thursday the countries and trade practices the administration considers unfair under the so-called "Super 301" provision of the law.</br></br>Administration sources said South Korea so far escaped being named during the deliberations because of a series of last-minute market liberalizing moves and a feeling that the fragile democracy there would be harmed if Seoul was singled out.</br></br>"If Korea's concessions are as good as advertised, they are a strong argument for the architecture of the Super 301 and for an assertive U.S. trade policy," said William T. Archey, international vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.