Japan will decide next week on the steps to retaliate against the hefty tariffs by the United States over an array of steel imports, said a Japanese trade official on Friday.
"Unless the United States offers a clear response of compensation, we will have to start the process of notifying rebalancing measures to exert our well-deserved right," Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma told a press conference.
"The day of May 17 is the deadline," he added.
The United States has repeatedly refused Japan's demand of compensation by lowering tariffs on other Japanese exports.
Japan plans to slap 100 percent tariffs on imports of U.S. steel if such compensation is not granted by the United States, according to Japan's Kyodo News.
Hiranuma is expected to meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick next week in Paris, on the sidelines of an annual ministerial conference Wednesday and Thursday of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
"I would like to have last-minute negotiations with Mr. Zoellick," Hiranuma said.
Japan, the European Union and other steel-exporting countries have filed complaints with World Trade Organization (WTO) after the United States on March 20 slapped a three-year tariffs of up to 30 percent on an array of steel imports.
(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2002)
