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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4458 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4458

 To promote United States industry and technology in competition with 
                                 Japan.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 19, 1994

 Mr. Kolbe (for himself, Mr. Kopetski, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Livingston, Mr. 
  Hyde, Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. McCrery, Mr. 
Ehlers, Mr. Horn, and Mr. Portman) introduced the following bill; which 
            was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To promote United States industry and technology in competition with 
                                 Japan.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States-Japan Export 
Development and Technological Competitiveness Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States trade deficit with Japan of more than 
        $59,000,000,000 in 1993 and the worldwide Japanese current 
        account surplus of more than $131,000,000,000 are but two 
        measures of the unfair and chronically imbalanced state of 
        Japan's international economic relations;
            (2) even more indicative of the closed nature of the 
        Japanese market to foreign products are statistics detailing 
        the marginal penetration of sales and investment in Japan by 
        foreign companies, particularly when compared to the 
        significant Japanese penetration of the United States market;
            (3) although Japan is the second largest market for 
        manufactured goods in the industrialized world, in 1992, 
        according to the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and 
        Industry, only 1.2 percent of all sales and .9 percent of 
        assets in the Japanese economy were attributable to foreign 
        companies, with United States corporate affiliates accounting 
        for roughly .7 percent of total product sales and approximately 
        $89 per capita in inward direct investment;
            (4) in contrast, in 1992 foreign corporate affiliates 
        accounted for almost 17 percent of all sales and 20 percent of 
        all assets in the United States economy, with an estimated 4.8 
        percent of total product sales and $594 per capita in 
        accumulated inward direct investment in the United States 
        coming from Japanese corporate affiliates, so that Japanese 
        corporate affiliates have a net sales and investment 
        penetration level in the United States that exceeds, by almost 
        7-fold on a per capita basis, that of United States corporate 
        affiliates in Japan;
            (5) the majority of the blame for this highly unbalanced 
        situation rests with the Government of Japan, which has striven 
        through an intricate mixture of tariffs, controls, and domestic 
        regulations on the flow of goods and capital to, from, and 
        within Japan to keep foreign and Japanese entrepreneurs 
        desiring to do business in Japan from succeeding;
            (6) today the market regulatory and interventionary 
        policies of the Japanese Government that intentionally or 
        unintentionally serve to keep foreign companies from doing 
        business in Japan must be removed to maintain the strength of 
        the United States-Japan relationship and to improve the growth 
        of the world economy;
            (7) United States trade and trade promotion policies toward 
        Japan must also change to reflect post-Cold War priorities of 
        export expansion and technological competitiveness, the central 
        objective of which is to help United States companies become as 
        vital a part of the Japanese industrial system as Japanese 
        companies have become in the United States;
            (8) one proven effective way in which the United States 
        Government can assist United States industry in overcoming 
        barriers to access in Japan, improve awareness of scientific 
        and technological developments in Japan, and facilitate greater 
        coordination between United States industry and the United 
        States Government in the making of trade and technology policy 
        is to promote the establishment of United States industrial and 
        service sector association representative offices in Japan;
            (9) despite the very large potential for sales in Japan of 
        goods manufactured in the United States, because of the great 
        cost of establishing representative operations in Japan, only 3 
        nonagricultural United States industry associations have 
        created full-time offices in Japan (the auto parts, 
        electronics, and semiconductor industries) and all have relied 
        on the partial support of funding under the Market Development 
        Cooperator Program established under the Export Enhancement Act 
        of 1988; and
            (10) the expedient expansion of the Market Development 
        Cooperator Program will have a significant impact on 
        facilitating greater United States exports to Japan and on 
        enhancing the awareness by United States industry of 
        competitive developments and opportunities in the Japanese 
        market.

             TITLE I--MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR PROGRAM

SEC. 101. EXPANSION OF THE MARKET DEVELOPMENT COOPERATOR PROGRAM IN 
              JAPAN.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to funds 
otherwise available for such purpose, there are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Department of Commerce for fiscal year 1995, 
$3,000,000--
            (1) to increase the number of United States manufacturing 
        and service sector industry associations in Japan participating 
        in the Market Development Cooperator Program established under 
        section 2303 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 
        4723); and
            (2) to expand the trade promotion, technological 
        monitoring, and industry analysis activities undertaken before 
        the enactment of this Act by United States nonprofit 
        manufacturing and service trade associations in Japan.
    (b) Reports on the Program.--Section 2303 of the Export Enhancement 
Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4723) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(e) Reports to Congress.--The Secretary of Commerce shall report 
annually to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
Appropriations of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations 
of the Senate on the progress the Department of Commerce has made in 
implementing the Market Development Cooperator Program and in 
allocating funding to cooperator recipients in Japan.''.

  TITLE II--UNITED STATES EXPORT DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER IN 
                                 JAPAN

SEC. 201. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) United States Trade Relations With Japan.--It is the sense of 
the Congress that--
            (1) in this post-Cold War era, promotion of equitable 
        economic relations with all trading partners and in particular 
        Japan must be given increased emphasis in the conduct of United 
        States foreign policy;
            (2) working closely with industry, the United States 
        Government should endeavor to ensure that United States-owned 
        and operated companies are positioned adequately to take 
        advantage of opportunities for market entry and expansion in 
        Japan;
            (3) technological developments in Japan should be followed 
        closely and analyzed for their ramifications on United States 
        industrial competitiveness and economic security;
            (4) the United States Government should be in a better 
        position to support United States industry in disputes with the 
        Japanese Government and Japanese businesses and to publicize 
        the merits of United States products to the Japanese people; 
        and
            (5) an Export Development and Technology Center established 
        in Tokyo would assist in accomplishing the goals set forth in 
        paragraphs (1) through (4) and could serve as a cornerstone of 
        a new United States constructive response to the Japanese 
        economic challenge.
    (b) Purpose of Export Development and Technology Center.--It is 
further the sense of the Congress that an Export Development and 
Technology Center in Tokyo, Japan, should--
            (1) embody a new United States Government-industry 
        partnership in expanding United States corporate penetration of 
        the Japanese market and in monitoring, analyzing, and 
        coordinating responses to Japanese scientific and technological 
        developments;
            (2) provide a wide range of information to Japanese 
        consumers on the high costs of the Japanese standard of living 
        as compared to other industrialized nations, as well as on the 
        benefits to Japanese consumers of a more open, deregulated, and 
        transparent economy;
            (3) correct misperceptions of United States products in the 
        Japanese media and publicize the negative impact of excessive 
        economic regulation by the Japanese Government on importers and 
        Japanese entrepreneurs;
            (4) serve to create jobs in the United States and enhance 
        the competitiveness of the United States industrial base;
            (5) help United States industries help themselves in the 
        provision of detailed knowledge and analysis of the Japanese 
        market and facilitate the promotion of their respective 
        concerns and interests to the Japanese Government, business 
        community, and public;
            (6) improve the ability of the United States Government to 
        monitor Japanese scientific and technological developments 
        related to United States industrial competitiveness and 
        national security and centralize current efforts where 
        desirable;
            (7) ensure that a common United States Government and 
        business community interest in increasing access for United 
        States made products to the Japanese market is visibly and 
        forthrightly promoted directly in Japan;
            (8) contain offices for export-oriented United States 
        sectoral industry associations;
            (9) contain a Government-operated science and technology 
        information and assessment facility designed to--
                    (A) centralize United States Government data 
                collection and analysis of sectoral, subsectoral, and 
                macro-trend developments in Japanese science and 
                technology; and
                    (B) ensure that science and technological 
                developments in Japan are monitored closely, formally 
                assessed for their implications to United States 
                industrial competitiveness, thoroughly catalogued, and 
                made available on-line in computerized form to United 
                States businesses; and
            (10) provide office facilities for a portion of the foreign 
        office of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service in 
        Japan.

SEC. 202. FEASIBILITY STUDY ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNITED STATES 
              TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER.

    (a) Study.--The Secretary of Commerce shall conduct a study of the 
feasibility and viability of establishing a United States Government-
owned and operated Export Development and Technology Center in Tokyo, 
Japan, as described in section 201(b).
    (b) Report.--The Secretary shall, not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, submit a report on the study 
conducted under subsection (a) to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and to 
the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee 
on Appropriations of the Senate.
    (c) Solicitation of Views.--In conducting the study under 
subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce shall solicit the views of 
the following individuals and groups regarding the desirability, 
viability, and potential use of the proposed center:
            (1) The Secretary of State, the Chairman of the National 
        Economic Council, the United States Trade Representative, the 
        Secretary of Defense, the Director of Central Intelligence, the 
        President of the National Science Foundation, and the head of 
        any other entity controlled or funded by the Government that 
        the Secretary of Commerce considers has relevant interests in 
        the establishment of an export development and technology 
        center in Japan.
            (2) The Government of Japan.
            (3) United States sectoral and multi-industry national 
        trade associations.
            (4) Any other individuals, groups, or entities, public or 
        private, whose opinion the Secretary considers to be valuable 
        in conducting the study.
    (d) Requirements for Report.--The report on the study shall include 
an analysis of at least the following:
            (1) The potential usefulness and desirability of the center 
        from the perspective of United States industry (as expressed to 
        the Secretary) and the United States Government.
            (2) The possibility of expanding the Market Development 
        Cooperator Program of the Department of Commerce to extend 
        financial support to industry association participants in the 
        Center to help alleviate the costs of such participation.
            (3) The possibility of requiring United States industry 
        participants in the center to engage in--
                    (A) promoting United States goods and services 
                among potential Japanese buyers; and
                    (B) monitoring, analyzing, and reporting on trade 
                and technological developments in Japanese industry, 
                and making such reports and the results of such 
                monitoring and analysis available to the United States 
                Government and the United States private sector.
            (4) The possibility of requiring all industry advisory 
        staff at the center to possess significant recent expertise in 
        Japanese business and technology affairs.
            (5) The possibility of requiring all industry 
        representative offices at the center to have at least one 
        senior staff member functionally fluent in Japanese language.
            (6) The possibility of requiring all nonclerical personnel 
        to be United States citizens.
            (7) The three best possible locations for the center 
        (ranked in order of desirability), and the possibility of 
        requiring that the primary building contractor of the center be 
        a United States-owned construction firm licensed to do business 
        in Japan.
            (8) The possible management and oversight structure of the 
        center, including the possibility of having private sector 
        management and oversight with United States Government 
        participation.
            (9) The total cost of the center, the possible cost to the 
        United States Government, and any cost-sharing or cost-saving 
        arrangements among private sector and Government participants.
            (10) The concurrent establishment of a liaison facility in 
        Washington, DC, and the prospective requirements of such a 
        facility.
            (11) The prospective architectural design of the center.
            (12) The prospective design, construction, and operational 
        costs of the center.
            (13) The possibility of the center containing--
                    (A) conference rooms and a small auditorium (80-100 
                persons) for conducting seminars and promotional 
                events; and
                    (B) a reference center and small library to provide 
                support services to building participants and 
                interested United States citizens.
            (14) The security requirements of the center and possible 
        problems with compliance to United States Government laws, 
        rules, and regulations on security of government facilities.

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