§ Mr. DunnTo ask the Prime Minister if she will indicate in theOfficial Report the representations made to the European Commission by Her Majesty's Government on the need to equalise the adverse imbalance of trade between the United Kingdom and the empire of Japan; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government keep in close contact with the European Commission about measures to 423W improve the Community's balance of trade with Japan. These include measures to sustain the recent shift in the balance of the Japanese economy from exports to domestic demand; the encouragement of Japanese manufacturing investment in the Community; the removal of the remaining barriers to access to the Japanese market; the promotion of business awareness of the opportunities in the Japanese market; and improvement of our business men's skills in the Japanese language.
While the United Kingdom's visible trade deficit with Japan remains high, its rate of growth declined to just 1 per cent, over last year compared with 20 per cent, in 1988; in 1989 United Kingdom exports to Japan almost doubled their rate of growth to over 30 per cent, while the rate of growth of our imports from Japan was more than halved to 9 per cent.