§ Mr. David Youngasked the Secretary of State for Trade what was the quantity and value of imports of machine tools from Japan in each of the last five years; and if he will take specific action against Japan to safeguard the British machine tool industry.
§ Mrs. Sally OppenheimUnited Kingdom imports of complete machine tools from Japan in each of the last five years were as follows:
Quantity (number) Value (£ million cif) 1976 556 5.7 1977 724 6.6 1978 1,350 13.4 1979 1,830 20.7 1980 2,243 33.5 Following the European Foreign Affairs Council on 17 February, the Commission introduced Community-wide surveillance of certain products from Japan including numerically-controlled lathe and machinery centres. On 23 June, the Foreign Affairs Council agreed that this surveillance should be continued. We and the Commission will be watching levels of imports very carefully.