TRADE ISSUES STRAINING EC'S PATIENCE WITH JAPAN
  Member states of the European
  Community are starting to run out of patience with Japan which
  they believe has repeatedly promised major initiatives to open
  its market to imports, but as often made only minor moves.
      Diplomatic sources here said several recent actions by EC
  countries bear witness to a new disillusionment with the
  willingness, or at least the ability, of the Japanese
  government to reduce its massive trade surplus with the EC.
      However, they said an all-out trade war may be far off, as
  EC states know they would suffer almost as much as Japan.
     Senior EC diplomats gave a generally favourable reaction to
  an EC executive commission proposal under which the EC could
  raise tariffs on a range of Japanese products if the U.S.
  Carries out a threat to make a similar move on April 17.
      The EC tariffs, which would involve renouncing obligations
  entered into with the world trade body GATT, would be designed
  to stop a diversion of exports to the EC market from that of
  the U.S.
      The diplomats were meeting as Tokyo announced that the EC's
  trade deficit with Japan reached a record 2.13 billion dlrs in
  March, up from 1.94 billion in February.
  

